Alpha Team
by Drakedragon
Summary: A new pilot has entered into the Zoid matches. The only weird thing is, that he doesn’t seem to have any particular reason for fighting. And to add to it, he’s apparently working as a mercenary, trying to gain experience and some money where he can.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

**Prologue:**

It's been 1 year since the events involving the Blitz team and the Backdraft Group. Things around the Zoid battles have really settled down...and the Blitz team is still going full force. Of course, these days the Blitz team seems to have little challengers that can stand much of a chance against them.

However, with fresh new and ambitious pilots entering the matches, the chances of things changing within the Zoid Battle circuit are certain. The ZBC is being stricter then ever when it comes to handling those who break the rules. The Backdraft group still exists, but they're finding it harder and harder to move without being caught. In fact, they've been forced into hiding from the ZBC, and all of its former associates are being monitored very closely.

Anyway, among the new pilots is a talented young teenager who has started his career as a Zoid Pilot as a simple Mercenary. He starts first by helping out the Zaber Team...


	2. Chapter 1 Who Are You?

**Chapter 1: Who are you?**

"Lineback! Get that one on the right!" Shouted Kirkland, leader of the Zaber team, as his yellow Sabre Fang rushed forward, its four claws smashing against the ground, pushing himself across the huge desert terrain they fought on, tailing a gray command wolf sporting the typical AZ-50mm Dual Barrel Rifle on its back.

Just then a second command wolf had veered off to the right, the second of three, but the third was already trashed.

"Right!" Confirmed Lineback, who picked up his speed and chased after the Command Wolf. Both Lineback and Omari's sabre fangs were damaged, but not enough to put them out of commission. However, Omari's buster cannon was malfunctioning, so that put his main gun offline for now. He could still ram his opponents and perhaps use his claws too.

"You aren't getting away!" Shouted Lineback as he scoped in on the hurrying Command Wolf. His targeting system gave a beep and his screen went red with a "Lock-on!" message onscreen. Lineback's lips curled into a smirk, "Gotcha!"

His shock cannon recoiled as he fired a burst off. The shot careened through the air and struck the Command Wolf right in the right hind leg's stabilizer and sent it smashing into the ground. Lineback altered his course and went to link up with Kirkland again, "Too easy! Let's get that last one!" Proclaimed Lineback as he ran a hand through his short dark brown, almost black hair.

"Watch it, Lineback! He's turned around!" Kirkland shouted, interrupting his team mate. "W-What?!" Lineback tried to veer off to the right, as the gray command wolf's dual barrel rifle took aim, fired and hit his zoid right in the chest. The sabre fang screeched aloud and fell to the ground with a thud, all his screens began to freeze up and a message popped up on his main viewer saying, "Command System Freeze!"

Lineback slammed his fist on the control panel beside him, "Ah, come on! Not now!" He shouted angrily. He pressed the comm. link in front of him and called up another on their team, "Hey! Rookie! Get your tail in gear! Kirkland needs your help!" He shouted over the link.

"Roger" Replied a much calmer and obviously younger voice, probably in his teenage years.

Meanwhile, Kirkland rushed as fast as he could, with Omari at his right, with the one gray command wolf at his tail. The one piloting it was a member of the Gray Wolves team, a B rank team, along with the Zaber Fang team. His Dual Barrel Rifle homed in on Omari's sabre fang, both teams stampeding across the desert, dodging and jumping rocks and pits. He carefully took aim, compensating for the constant movement and the possibility of a sudden change in course; he locked onto Omari and fired off two rounds.

"Omari, watch out!" Kirkland called over the comm. unit as he swerved to the right.

"It's no good!" Cried Omari as he tried to swerve to the left, but to no avail. The first round smashed into the ground and the second smashed right into the main body, blowing off his shock cannon and severing several command connections. In the end, his sabre fang crashed and burned into the ground, and like Lineback, his screen lit up with a command system freeze message. Omari was knocked unconscious in the crash, but otherwise he was fine.

"Arrgh...Hey! What's takin' you so long, rookie?!" Shouted Kirkland over the communications unit.

"Sorry, Kirkland." Was the simple reply.

Moments later the gray command wolf's left shoulder lit up with an explosion, it jumped back and staggered slightly. The pilot threw his sight around until he spotted another zoid. It was only a Rev Raptor, but instead of the typical set of blasters and blades, it also had a light missile launcher on its back, capable of firing ten missiles per round, with a pack to hold the ammo. It reduced the Rev Raptor's speed a little bit, but not by much.

"Sorry pal, but this fight's over." Stated the same young man over his speaker to the command wolf. His zoid roared aloud and fired another round from its blasters and hit the command wolf straight on, sending it sparking to the ground. With that, its command system froze up and the judge capsule blared a horn over the battle ground and comm. links.

"The battle is over! The battle is over!" He announced in his male robotic voice as he waved his arms around slightly, "The winner is...the Zaber Team!" He proclaimed in his typical fashion and raised one arm up. With that, the capsule closed and took off back into the air to link up with the Judge Satellite in orbit over the planet.

Kirkland's sabre fang came to a halt by Omari's wrecked zoid and he quickly jumped down to see to his team mate. At the same time, the young man piloting the rev raptor went to check on Lineback and see how he was doing. The sabre fang's cockpit popped open and Lineback climbed out, glaring at the supposed 'rookie'. "You idiot!" He barked, jabbing a finger towards the five feet nine inch tall teenager that approached him, "If you hadn't been so slow, me and Omari wouldn't have been taken out!"

"Hey, I told you I'm still getting the hang of all these zoid battles." Stated the young man as he reached up and removed his helmet, revealing a green eyed young man of about seventeen. "And I warned you long beforehand that I was still getting my bearings." He set the helmet under his arm and sighed, running a gloved hand through his short black hair, which was pushed down from having the helmet on for a long time.

Lineback scoffed and folded his arms over his chest, "Feh, excuses..." he mumbled and gave a sideways glare to him. "By the way, what did you say your name was again?"

The black haired youth sighed and scratched the back of his head, "Come on, I've said it five times already..." He mumbled under his breath, "My name's Krater." He said flatly and glanced towards the wreck that was Omari's sabre fang. Just then, Kirkland had pulled Omari out of the cockpit and shouted, "Omari's alright, but he's out cold! We need to get him to our whale king and lay him down somewhere!"

Kirkland nodded and turned back to Krater, "You help him get Omari in the whale king, me and Lineback will get our zoids into the hanger and then I want you to look at the damage." He said with a grim frown. Apparently, the fact that they had to rely on a newbie so much was embarrassing, but Krater was a good technician, they'd found that out already after their last battle. It was thanks to him they had been able to even fight in this battle.

"After that we'll give you what we promised to pay you, but I think we'll need you to stick around for a while longer." He added as Krater nodded and went to assist Lineback.

Before long, Omari was lying in his quarters and his and Lineback's zoids were in the maintenance deck on their yellow whale king. Kirkland went to handle the battle forms, Lineback went to get something to eat and Krater got to work looking at the sabre fangs. The damage wasn't too bad, mostly surface damage, but what little internal damage was done needed to be fixed right away.

So, the rookie went to work for at least an hour repairing the damage that was done to the two zoids, from the inside out. By the time the members of the Zaber Team came to see his progress, he'd already repaired the command connections on Omari's sabre fang and the circuitry damage to Lineback's. All that was left was the armor and he'd be done.

"Sheesh, look at him. Not often a rookie shows up with those kinds of tech skills." Mumbled Lineback with a sigh.

"Yeah no kidding. He's slow in the battles, but we need him to help fix our zoids." Remarked Kirkland with a frown and Lineback looked at him with a glance.

"How much are we paying him anyway? Given our budget I'm surprised we could even hire him." He inquired curiously.

Kirkland shook his head, "As far as mercenaries go, not much. He didn't demand much either, which is surprising. Even if he can't do so hot in the battles, he's amazing with mechanical work."

Lineback scratched the back of his head with a confused look, "Must not be confident in himself then. Ah well, I'm going to go see if Omari's awake yet." He sighed disinterestedly and walked off out of the hangar.

Kirkland remained there for a little while longer, but soon wandered off to do something or other and left Krater alone as he finished up the repairs.

When he was done, the young man wiped his brow with a sigh and sat down. "Well, all done. These two should be rearin' to go for the next battle." He smiled as he looked up at Omari's sabre fang.

Later on, Krater walked out of the shower with a fresh change of clothes on, which was nothing more then a fairly simple maroon jacket with blue pants and black sneakers and went to the briefing room to find Omari and Lineback sitting across from each other talking. Both stopped and turned to him as he walked in and gave him a nod before resuming their conversation. Krater didn't listen for long; they were just talking about how they might handle their next battle. It had taken a lot of losses before it finally got through their thick skulls that their past tactics just didn't work in the higher ups.

"Hey guys" Kirkland called as he walked in, the three turning to him and he sat down, "Got a message from the Zoid Battle Commission. They've already got us another battle. It's this Friday, we're up against the 'Shield Guard,' a team of three shield ligers and a godulas. Battle mode 0982." He told them as he gazed at each one.

Omari and Lineback nodded with big grins of excitement. Krater stared off into space, his eyes on a panel across the room as he considered the match up. _Three shield ligers and a godulas? The sabre fangs won't be able to get past the shield ligers' energy shields with their current weapons and that godulas has got some tough armor plating. Even if these guys by some miracle pulled off a precision formation their current weapons would be useless._

"Hey, Krater!" Kirkland shouted. The young man jumped and realized the zoid pilot was in his face. "I asked you if you had any suggestions, so do you or don't you?" He asked, miffed at being ignored.

Krater stared blankly for a second before he snapped from his dazed reverie and said, "Well we might want to equip the sabre fangs with different weapons. Your current guns won't be able to take down a shield liger, at least not individually and I doubt they'd just let you guys gang up on one of them." He stood up and stretched. "It might be good to have one of you equip a heavy missile launcher too, we'll need it to do any damage to that godulas they've got. Raider's light missile launcher might be able to work against the shield ligers, but I don't see it doing any damage to the godulas." When he was done, Omari waved a hand in the air for attention.

"Raider...?" He said with a quirked eyebrow.

Krater sighed and shook his head as he folded his arms over his chest, "The name of my rev raptor, remember? I know I've told you this at least twice." He replied irately.

Omari blinked and said, "Oh... right." And went silent. The other two members of the Zaber Team nodded and they all went to prepare their zoids for the battle. Over the course of the next two days they refitted Lineback's sabre fang with a powerful buster cannon and equipped Kirkland's with a heavy missile pod. For Omari they added light missile launchers like on Krater's zoid Raider.

Krater also took the blades from his rev raptor and had new ones (the money for said blades taken from his paycheck) put on that were made of metal much like the kind used to make the blades on a Blade Liger and would be much more efficient in slicing up enemy zoids.

When Friday, the day of their match finally came, they were at the Whale King's helm on their way to the battle zone they would be fighting in. The terrain was straight wasteland so it wouldn't be difficult to maneuver. Omari looked to Kirkland as he piloted the whale king and asked, "So, explain our plan to me again..."

Kirkland didn't say anything, instead Krater flipped on a viewing screen off to the side, which was nothing more then a tactical reading of the battlefield. On it were three large circles to denote the Zaber Team's sabre fangs and one square for Raider. The other team's three shield ligers were marked by small triangles and their godulas was presented as a diamond.

"The Shield Guard's favorite strategy is to have the godulas shell their opponent with heavy rounds while the shield ligers keep the enemy from hitting him. It's a strategy that's worked quite well for them in the long run, but it relies on their opponents being slow and sloppy with formations, not to mention just the simple fact that normal arsenals can't beat them, but we've already taken care of that. " He explained as the three triangles that denoted the shield ligers moved into an arrow formation with the godulas in the middle and the four began moving towards their own units.

"However, the godulas is so slow it can't keep up with the shield ligers on its own so they have to keep moving apace with it. This gives teams with real speed an advantage over them, so they usually switch tactics to compensate. However, given the Zaber Team's reputation, they'll probably go with their favorite formation." He continued as their zoids got into formation. "So, we're going to catch them off guard. We'll pretend to charge as always, but once we get close enough Omari and me will veer off and get behind them so we can surround them. Once we have them trapped it should be pretty simple defeating them. This way, we're spread out so damage from their godulas' shots is minimal and their shield ligers won't be able to stop us from firing at the godulas."

Omari and Lineback both nodded with excited smirks and the rounder of the two slammed his fist into the palm of his hand, "Alright! We'll win this easy then!" He exclaimed as Kirkland brought the whale king down to land.

By the time they had all their zoids on the battleground the judge flew down from the sky and crashed into the ground off to the side and rose up out of the earth as always. The front of the capsule folded open and rose up to reveal the robotic judge as he began to announce, "The area within a 200 kilometer radius is now a designated zoid battle zone. Danger! All others must leave the area immediately." As he said that, Krater could see their opponents moving into sight.

The three shield ligers were all the same white color, but each had small marks of some sort in different colors. Among them was a single godulas of the typical light gray and dark browns and blacks with a double barrel shock cannon on its back. Their team lumbered along at a pretty slow pace. They had to or the godulas would fall behind.

"The Zaber Team vs. the Shield Guards. Battle mode: 0982. Ready..."

"Alright team, remember our plan." Kirkland warned over the comm. link.

"FIGHT!"

"Go!" Kirkland roared as their team took off towards the enemy. Omari and Krater's Raider led the attack with Kirkland and Lineback moving right behind them. Their different weapons made them a little slower, but they were still able to keep up. The two teams exchanged fire as the godulas' back-mounted cannon fired off the first round and the Zaber Team's leading men fired in return as the ground exploded around them.

They got within a hundred yards, the explosive rounds from the godulas' double-barreled buster cannon tearing up the ground along their path but never landing a direct hit. Omari and Krater gave the signal over their communicators and veered away from the opposing team. The shield ligers deployed their shields and backed in a little closer to the godulas as the two went around them. The godulas paused in its attack, uncertain of who to take aim at as Kirkland and Lineback got into position in front of them.

The Zaber Team had successfully surrounded them and just as they expected, the three shield ligers couldn't block all four of them. Kirkland smirked and shouted, "Alright! Let's take 'em down boys!" over his comm. link and locked onto the godulas. His screen went red and the words 'Locked on!' popped up. His lips curled into smirk and he fired off his missiles.

The pods slid open and twelve heavy missiles flew into the air. At the same time, Lineback used his buster cannon to lay suppressing fire on the shield ligers. Omari opened up on the one shield liger trying to block both him and Krater, locked on and fired off a round of light missiles. Krater had Raider fire a steady stream of suppressing fire at the shield liger to keep him from retaliating.

The missiles from Kirkland and Omari flew into the enemy's formation and the explosion kicked up a mushroom cloud of smoke and dirt before it began to clear away. Krater and Lineback never stopped firing though, they kept shooting away at their unseen targets. After a few seconds the dust began to clear and the two ceased firing.

When they could see, it was clear things had gone well. One of the shield ligers was completely down. The other two had sustained heavy damage and the godulas lost a barrel on its buster cannon. Kirkland smirked and Lineback's laughter sounded over their comm. channel. "Alright! Okay guys, let's finish this! We got one already, the others are just sitting ducks!" Declared Lineback with a great big grin.

"Right!" The Zaber Team declared together and the three sabre fangs opened up on the shield ligers and godulas. However, as soon as they did, one of the shield ligers moved as fast as his zoid would allow towards Raider, the ground exploding with dust and rock behind him. The other shield liger and the godulas were down before the dust cleared.

As the remaining shield liger got closer to Raider, Krater took aim and locked on, his screen beeping and turning red in confirmation and fired off several rounds from his blasters. The shells exploded into the liger's head and chest and the zoid hit the ground running with a roar.

The judge's horns blared over the battle zone and its male voice announced, "The battle is over! The battle is over! The winner is... the Zaber Team!".

Lineback and Omari roared with cheers over the comm. units and Kirkland laughed. Krater sighed and smiled. He was kind of disappointed though, he expected the battle to have been a lot harder. But they had caught them off guard and they had been able to pull off their formation with perfection, so he was glad for that.

A couple hours later, the Zaber team's zoids were in their hanger on the whale king and they were on their way back to their base, all a-cheer over their easy win and their wonderful chunk of prize money they got for it. Omari, Lineback and Kirkland were celebrating in the briefing room, drinks in hand and smiles on their faces, laughing and joking around as they talked excitedly. Meanwhile, Krater was in the hanger, standing in front of his rev raptor Raider looking up with a smile. "Well Raider we did a good job today. We managed to help them win the battle. Kirkland wants us to hang around for a while longer, probably until they get some more wins in their pockets. What do you think?" He asked as he gazed up at his zoid.

The mechanical raptor's red eyes lit up for a brief second and a faint rumble echoed from its large mouth, soliciting a laugh from its pilot. "I know, they're a bunch of morons. Omari can't even get your name right! Lineback can't even remember my name!" He chuckled to himself as he sighed and closed his eyes. "We'll help with two more battles, and then we'll leave and find another team that might need some help. People will be talking about today's battle, especially since we won so easily, so I'm sure it shouldn't too hard finding a team that wants to hire us." He fell silent for a moment and looked back up at his zoid and asked, "How's that sound?"

The rev raptor gave a short grunt and nodded its head slightly. Krater smiled, turned and started on his way out of the hanger as he added over his shoulder, "Who knows, if things keep going our way we might get to form our own team. That would be a blast, wouldn't it?"

Once he was out of the hanger, he went to the kitchen and grabbed himself some dinner before heading off to bed. They'd be late getting back to the Zaber Team's base anyway, so he decided he'd just sleep on the Whale King for the night.


	3. Chapter 2 Unexpected Meeting

Here's chapter 2.

Disclaimer: As I've said, I don't own the Zoids, only Krater and the new character you'll see in a minute, are mine.

**Chapter 2: Unexpected Meeting**

Krater did just as he said he would. The Zabre Team went through two more battles and secured a pair of victories with minimal damage to their own team and its three members were extremely happy... until the mercenary sprung the news that he was leaving on them. They tried desperately to get him to stay, they did after all have a match that day, and even went so far as to offer a higher wage, but he wouldn't relent. He packed up his equipment and the few things he kept and left their base in the early afternoon, the crestfallen team watching with noticeable slouches from the open hangar door.

Now unemployed and free of the Zabre Team, the rookie mercenary made his way down the road riding in a crimson gustav with his rev raptor in tow. Most of the terrain around the Zabre Team's base was the same as most other teams: barren wasteland with little to nothing for miles all around. In fact, the nearest city or town was an hour's drive down the road, but since his gustav was towing Raider it took another thirty minutes before he was pulling into a city. This particular city was the same one that all the zoid teams in the surrounding area came to for parts, setting up registrations, shopping, lounging, whatever they needed.

Pleased that he'd finally arrived, Krater found a large lot where he could park his gustav and made sure to lock everything down and walked down the sidewalk towards one of the local hotels. He knew he might be here a while, so he decided he should get a room somewhere. Once he finished with that, he headed to the lounge zoid pilots from the area frequented to watch battles and found that the place was packed and a battle between a team of familiar command wolves and sabre fangs was being displayed on the video screen. Apparently, everyone had heard of the Zabre Team's sudden increase in victories and wanted to see how they fared.

They did not, however, seem to know that the mercenary they hired had left. Questions were thrown around the lounge inquiring where the strange rev raptor and its pilot were, but nobody knew why he was absent. Krater gained a knowing grin and chose to say nothing as he went and grabbed himself some food and drink before sitting down to watch the match. Apparently it had only started a couple of minutes ago, as the Zabre Team and the Gray Wolves were only just starting to exchange fire. Krater grinned with amusement, _Looks like Kirkland shouldn't have accepted their demand for a rematch. _He thought to himself as he watched Lineback's Sabre get trashed by two of the other team's command wolves. It was blindingly apparent to all those watching by now that the mysterious mercenary Krater was no longer under the Zabre Team's employment and even more obvious how much the sub par team had been relying on him, as they weren't displaying any of the tactics from previous matches nor could they seem to stay in formation.

The battle lasted maybe fifteen minutes, if only because Kirkland and Omari were far too stubborn to go down too easily. To their credit, they did manage to disable one of the opposing team's command wolves, but nothing beyond that. Several people around the lounge laughed and the air was abuzz with chatter as the pilots and spectators present discussed the 'battle' that had just ended and the vid screen went black. Krater turned his attention back to his food and ate slowly, enjoying the taste of a well earned meal. He had to savor it, after all, he didn't know how long it would be before another team hired him and the money he'd gotten from the Zabre Team, generous as they were, would only last so long.

About that time, he noticed someone in blue take a seat across from him and looked up to find that a young woman was looking at him curiously.

He could tell already she couldn't be any older then seventeen, though her face was perfectly clear of any sort of noticeable blemishes. She had a slightly pale, heart shaped face with a cute curved nose, big slanted red eyes and shiny silver hair in a high ponytail that flowed down to her lower back even when kept up. Her slender figure was adorned with what appeared to be a darker blue china dress with looser short sleeves that split down the shoulder and lined the ends with a yellow line. The rest of the dress was skintight with sleeves that extended to the end of her black fingerless gloves, a white square in the middle where her forearm and bicep meet. He couldn't see what else she was wearing since she was sitting down, but he guessed it was equally skintight as the top. He also noted, with a slight blush, that the dress did a fine job of highlighting her chest, which, he guessed were about a C cup, almost D.

Apparently unaware that he was sizing her up, the girl met his eyes and seemed to bore into him as she hummed thoughtfully. There was a long silence, one that Krater thought was lasting too long, so he finally smiled uneasily and asked, "Um, can I help you?"

She didn't offer any sort of reply for a good while before she finally smiled coyly, "You're him, aren't you?" She suddenly asked with a notable amount of interest.

"Him who?" Krater asked with a small bit of confusion.

The girl pointed her thumb over her shoulder to the blacked out vid screen and replied, "The one who was helping the Zabre Team. The new rookie mercenary everyone's talking about. That is you, isn't it?" She quirked an eyebrow, her lips forming a satisfied smile.

Krater chuckled, "Yep, that'd be me. How'd you figure that out?" He inquired curiously as he stabbed his chicken with a fork and ate it.

The silver haired girl nodded with a grin, "I did my homework." She then winked at him, "Ya' know, that helmet you wear into battle only works when people don't look up your profile, Krater Vrasik." She teased and stuck her tongue out at him for a second.

The black haired youth took a quick glance around the lounge and was relieved to see that nobody was listening in on their conversation. He then looked back at the young woman before him and asked with a smile, "Okay, you know my name, so may I have the pleasure of hearing yours?"

The red eyed girl smiled again, a gesture that Krater found to fit her very well, and replied, "Virilia. Virilia Shradner. Currently a Rank C Zoid Pilot going solo." Then she leaned forward and planted her elbows on the table, resting her chin in her hand, "And you, Krater, being a new guy, are still at the bottom of the ladder, though your past few battles have brought you up a couple spots, you're still considered a Class D pilot. I also hear you're very good at doing mechanical work with zoids." She watched him when she finished, gauging his reaction to her knowledge.

Krater blinked as he looked at her, taken aback by her in-depth knowledge of him. Was she stalking him or something? _Doubtful. We wouldn't be having this talk if she was just doing that. I wonder what she's after...?_ After a few seconds, he regained his composure and met her gaze with a slightly confused expression, "So you pretty much know all about me... may I ask why you went through all the trouble? I mean, like you said, I'm still a rookie. I know I'm good at mechanical work, but I'm not all that good in battle." His lips flat lined by the time he finished speaking.

Virilia met his eyes with a half-lidded gaze, most likely pondering how to put her next statement. In the end she smiled again and sat up straight, placing her hands on top of each other on the table in front of her, "To put it bluntly, Krater, I'd like your help." She finally stated as she looked him in the eye. "You have more skill then you think. Judging from the way the Zabre Team handled their last four battles and comparing them to today's battle... I can assume you were the one who came up with the battle plans, correct?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"...Well, yeah, kinda..." Was his brief reply as he scratched the back of his head.

She smiled again and looked down at her hands as she fiddled with one of her fingernails, picking something small from out the bottom absently as she said, "The first battle ended with the less desirable results, though they still won. That was because they either went with their own plan or they stopped following yours sometime during it."

"The second battle, it only because of your advice and battle plan that the Zabre Team was able to win and the same goes for the last two battles you were in. Their reliance on you was reflected the most in today's battle since you were absent. They couldn't maintain a formation, they obviously had no plan and their performance was dismal at best." She looked at him again with that same satisfied smile she had earlier.

"Judging from that, it's clear that you're a fast learner, though you don't seem to perform quite as well under pressure, you're good at last minute improvisations. The fact that you aren't that good in actual combat is expected and that can be amended with time and practice. It is for these reasons that I want your help." She finished as she inspected him calmly with her bright smile, awaiting his answer.

Krater stared at her, obviously very surprised and did little beyond open and close his mouth in silence and blink before he regained his composure and grinned, "Well, then, Virilia, I'd say you've got yourself a partner. When do I start?" He asked curiously.

Virilia smiled pleasantly and said as she stood up, "Right now. We need to go and register that you and I are working together now." Krater nodded and stood up, leaving a tab on the table.

Now that she was standing though, the young man noticed something about her he couldn't have seen while she was sitting. Her expression shined with genuine contentment and happiness at their pairing, almost to an innocent degree. Her body, language however, was saying something a little different. The way she carried herself was as confident as he expected, but he also noticed a great deal of suggestiveness in her stance. She had shifted her hip to the right, placing most of her weight on her right leg and hand one hand resting on her hip, the other simply resting at her side.

He also got the chance to see the rest of her outfit. What he saw was indeed much like a china dress in that it went all the way down to her ankles with slits on either side that revealed her slim, curvy legs were also covered by a skintight suit and that she wore a belt with a handgun resting on her left side. She was wearing a pair of blue and white boots as well, in a color that matched her dress. On the outer thighs of her suit were white squares like the ones he noticed earlier that started at her hind quarters and ended a couple inches above her shapely knees. The china dress was also sporting an hour-glass sort of shape with the blue, one that fit her very well, with white on the edges and the same yellow on the ending trim as the sleeves.

All in all, he had a hard time trying not to stare at her gorgeous figure. Still, just as before, Virilia apparently didn't notice that he was so thoroughly inspecting her and turned to leave with a 'follow me' gesture that he was sure really meant nothing, though her body was selling another story as her hips swayed from side to side and her slim legs carried her forward.

Krater gulped, _This is gonna be tough... I wonder how long I can last..._ He thought to himself nervously as he scratched his chin and followed after her, paying for his meal on the way out.

Within an hour, Krater and Virilia had paid a visit to the ZBC Registration Office for the city and had registered themselves. The young man had watched with interest as his beautiful companion named their team 'Alpha.' After that, she turned to him and calmly said, "I need to go to the repair shop and pick up my zoid. Do you want to come with me or would you like to meet somewhere?"

Now, Krater could tell she really was giving him a choice, but her body language was saying, "You'd better come with me!" He couldn't tell which was her real nature, so just to be safe; he decided to go with her and said, "I'll go with you." He was curious what her zoid looked like anyway and he certainly couldn't complain about the view since he was walking behind her the whole way there.

When they arrived at the repair shop, they walked inside and up to the front desk and Virilia simply said that she'd come to pick up her zoid. The man behind the counter nodded with a smile and led them through a door into the back that led into a large hanger full of zoids of all shapes and sizes. Some were alight with sparks and equipment as the many mechanics working here went to work on them. The man led them further towards the back and stopped in front of a command wolf. Most of its armor was a dark shade of navy blue while smaller parts such as the joints were black. On its back was an AZ-50mm Dual Barrel Rifle, the same kind most command wolves have.

Krater looked up at the zoid with a smile as Virilia and the man talked briefly. She then paid the man and he walked away as she turned and stood beside Krater, "So what do you think?" She asked with a curious glance out of the corner of her eye.

The young man hummed thoughtfully and replied, "It looks good. You obviously keep your zoid in good condition." He then looked at the command wolf's claws curiously, "...It has strike laser claw, doesn't it?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Virilia smirked and walked past him, stopping at her zoid's front right leg before turning around and face him, "That it does! I've also got an AZ 40mm Rifle that's intended for more accurate, powerful strikes back at home and..." She pointed to the unseen side of the side, "She's also equipped with a small missile launcher on the left-hand side."

She turned and climbed up her zoid with ease and hopped into the cockpit, then looked down at him with a wave, "Hop in, I'll give you a lift to your zoid!" She called.

Krater smiled and was soon in the cockpit sitting in the backseat as Virilia started up her zoid's systems, checked their status and walked out of the hanger through one of its many larger doors. "My zoid's in the lot down the road." He briefly told her as he leaned forward and around the back of her seat to see her face when she nodded with a smile and replied, "Alright. Then we can go to my place and figure out where I'm going to put you."

Later that evening, Krater and Virilia pulled up in front of a fairly large house on the very edge of town. The front yard was small, but it had a wide driveway; room enough for her command wolf, his gustav towing his rev raptor and what must have been Virilia's car: a simple blue, nondescript model, though he noticed it too was also in good condition.

He hopped out of his gustav and joined his silver haired companion as she hopped down from her own cockpit and led him to the front door. To look at the house, it wasn't anything grand. Just a simple white two-story house built with wood and a porch that stretched across the whole front of the house.

"Just a warning, I don't like messes, so things are going to be a lot cleaner then you're probably used to." Virilia teased him with a wink and led him inside to a large living room. Against the wall opposite the door was a large blue and white couch, a love seat of the same color scheme to the left and a comfy arm chair to its right. Directly to the left of the door, facing the furniture was a black widescreen TV with a stereo sitting at its base. Then sitting in the middle of it all was a coffee table made of oak with a nice sheen. The walls of the living room were painted white and dotted with paintings and pictures of different shapes and sizes and had two windows on either side of the front door overlooking the yard.

He grinned with a quiet chuckle when he noticed what she said was true: the room was spotless, not a speck of trash or dust was anywhere to be found and no clothes were lying around either. His gaze was drawn to Virilia's alluring figure as she left her boots by the door and walked further in and plopped down on the couch, patting the spot beside her with her hand, "So what do you think?" She asked with a cheery smile.

Krater kicked his boots off and left them by the door as she had done and seated himself beside her with a sigh, "It's really nice." He started and added with a laugh, "I can see you love the color blue, too."

Virilia giggled and leaned into the couch with a comfortable sigh, "Yes, it is. Back home my brothers would always make a mess and drive me crazy when they wouldn't pick up after themselves." She frowned with a slight pout and glanced at him as he sat back against the couch and rested his arms along the top of the couch, "You're not like that are you?" She asked somewhat suspiciously as she poked him in the chest.

The young man chuckled and replied, "You betcha!" and laughed when she gave him a playful jab to the arm, "Although I probably won't be that way forever. Like you said, I'm a fast learner." He added with a smile.

The woman beside him graced him with another of her perfect smiles and said, "All in good time, my friend."

They fell silent and Krater sensed things becoming a little awkward. Here they were: two teenagers alone in her house with nobody around to disturb them. It was obvious Virilia was picking up on the vibes, it was written all over her body language as she nervously folded her arms together in her lap and bit her lip while she stared at a painting on the wall, though her expression was, for the most part, calm and serene. Krater himself was better able to hold his composure and simply rested his head against the top of the couch and closed his eyes.

After five minutes of unbearable silence, Krater finally stood up with a sigh and smiled to his companion, "So, where am I sleeping?" He asked somewhat tiredly.

Virilia blushed slightly and made an 'Oh' shape with her lips, apparently having forgotten that as she stood up. She then proceeded to lead him through a door on the right side of the room that opened up to a small dining room with a flight of stairs to the right and an opening that most likely led to the kitchen. He followed her up the stairs, all the while trying not to stare as her tantalizing curves teased him with each step, and found himself in a hallway that stretched out to the right, lined with doors on either side.

She led him to a room two doors down on the right and opened the door to reveal a fairly simple room with a large bed, dresser, closet, TV and an assortment of other knick knacks and a window that overlooked the front yard and their zoids.

"This is your room." Virilia stated calmly with a smile, "Sorry if it's a bit small, but the other room besides my own has become a storage space more then an actual bedroom."

Krater nodded, "This is fine. Thanks a lot." He smiled as he turned to look at her. He was startled to see that the light of the setting sun had coming through the window had bathed her in a shade of luscious red and orange that, combined with her body language, seemed to be inviting him to try something. Her silver hair glistened in the fading rays and her red eyes shimmered, making holding himself together a difficult task.

Virilia didn't seem to notice though. She simply turned to the door directly across, pulling it open as she said, "This is my room. So if you need anything just ask. The bathroom's the door in front of the stairs and anything you need for it is in the closet directly beside it."

Krater nodded as she stepped into her own room, turned to face him again with another of her angelic smiles and said, "Good night, Krater. I'll see you in the morning." Then gently shut the door and started getting ready for bed.

The young man let out a sigh of relief as he shut his own door and leaned against the wall beside it. _Wow that was close... For a second there I actually thought I might... _He didn't dare finish that train of thought and instead started getting ready for bed. He ended up having to go outside to his gustav to get his bag with his things and set that on top of his dresser and stripped down to his boxers before slipping into bed for the night. Before long, he drifted off to sleep, his dreams full of Virilia and where their new partnership might lead...

--

So tell me what you think: Good? Bad? Overdone? R&R please!


	4. Chapter 3 A Midnight Stroll

And now here's chapter three of Alpha Team! This one's not quite as long as some of the others, but it'll give you a few things to think about as the story progresses. FYI: I'm writing this a chapter ahead of what I'm posting. Chapter 4's already done, but I'm going to wait until I finish chapter 5 before I post it up.

**Dislaimer:** I do not own Zoids or any of its official characters. I only own Krater, Virilia and the two new guys you'll see soon.

**Chapter 3: A Midnight Stroll**

"V-Virilia!" Krater grunted as he awoke with a start. His dreams had started off alright, but before long they had carried him into the more perverted possibilities of their new relationship. A little embarrassed and very glad that it was still fairly early in the morning, the young mercenary rushed to the bathroom, grabbing a towel on the way in. Half an hour later he emerged again with the same towel wrapped around his waist, his boxers balled up in his left hand and looking noticeably refreshed. He started down the hall and opened the door to his room, pausing only when he heard Virilia's door click and she stepped out wearing a blue shirt that hugged her torso and accentuated her chest with the sleeves so long that they ended at the palms of her hands. Covering her slender legs was a pair of what must have been pajama pants with little Pteras dotting it and she was barefoot.

He also noted with an amused grin that her hair was a mess, held up in an equally messy ponytail and that she obviously wasn't a morning person with her tired expression.

Virilia blushed at the site of his lean frame in a towel and quickly apologized with a brief bow and darted into the bathroom as Krater laughed, his own cheeks flushed slightly. He closed the door to his room and started to get dressed, pulling on a pair of simple blue jeans, a white t-shirt with a crimson over-shirt, white socks and a comfortable pair of red sneakers.

He headed down the stairs, passing the bathroom and taking note that Virilia was still in the shower, and found the kitchen right where he expected it to be. It was fairly sized with all the needed accompaniments such as the stove, dish washer, kitchen sink, various cabinets and appliances and the refrigerator.

Familiarizing himself with Virilia's kitchen, he began preparing breakfast in the form of eggs, bacon, sausage and rice. Fifteen minutes into it, he heard his beautiful roommate descending the stairs and step into the kitchen as he set out all of the food on an island counter in the middle of the kitchen.

He looked to her and was pleased by her surprised look. He took this chance to get a good look at her outfit, which consisted of the same shirt he saw earlier, a black choker, a short blue pleated skirt and white thigh-high stockings. Her hair was in order again now, held in the same high ponytail he'd seen it in when they first met.

She started speaking by the time he was done and fumbled over saying, "Y-you didn't have to make breakfast..." As she walked inside and looked over the spread he'd prepared.

Krater smiled and shrugged, "Well, I figured since you're letting me live in your house I should do something in return." He replied as he grabbed a plate and placed something of everything, then grabbed another plate and glanced at Virilia, "What would you like?" He asked with that same smile.

Virilia blinked before she said, "...Um, eggs, rice and two sausages..."

He put what she asked on it and handed the plate to her as he picked up his own and they walked into the dining room where they set their plates and silverware down and Krater asked, "What would you like to drink?"

His gorgeous friend had obviously decided not to object and happily replied, "Orange juice, thank you." With a brilliant smile as she picked up her silverware and began eating. Krater returned with a glass of her desired drink and a glass of milk for himself, setting the first in front of her before sitting down next to her and beginning his own meal.

Virilia turned and gave him a beaming smile, "It's very good! You're a very good cook. What else can you do?" She asked at the end with renewed curiosity.

Krater laughed and answered, "Thanks. My dad always told me I should learn to be self-reliant, so I learned to do a lot of things. I can do my own laundry, although I have the nasty habit of letting it pile up before I get to it... I have some basic electric and plumbing skills, I can hunt to an extent, and I can do first-aid and know how to handle a handgun pretty well."

The girl's red eyes were wide and fixated on him the entire time as she ate and listened to him talk. He went on for a while longer describing some of his various skills and she quickly came to notice how humble he was about it. He talked like they weren't that big a deal and picked at his eggs until he finished talking.

Virilia smiled another of her beaming smiles and wiped her mouth with a napkin. She then leaned over and pecked Krater on the cheek with a quick kiss. The young man was clearly taken aback and whipped his gaze around to look at her, slack-jawed with half chewed eggs still in his mouth. The young woman giggled and pushed his mouth shut with one hand as she said, "Call it a reward." She winked and returned to her breakfast.

Krater spent the rest of that meal in silence with a faint blush on his cheeks and Virilia talked about the different things she could do, the biggest of which he noted being her knowledge of the specifics behind zoid battles and strategy, as well as her investigative abilities.

When they were done, they took their plates and silverware to the kitchen to rinse them off and stuck them in the dishwasher before they went into the living room and sat down on the couch together. Virilia picked up a remote from the table and turned on the TV, tuning into the ZBN or Zoid Battle News channel and watched that for about a half hour.

As it turns out, others had noticed the Zabre Team's strange spike in victories as well and, from what he could get from the reporters, people were curious about the mercenary that had been the driving force behind their victories. Krater couldn't help but grin. Virilia noticed this out of the corner of her eyes and smiled as she voiced his thoughts, "You definitely started your career with a bang. They're all abuzz talking about you." Krater looked at her as she spoke with the same grin.

She winked and said, "Just wait until they hear you and I are working together, they'll have a fit." She smiled and turned the TV off again before standing up. She turned on one foot and flashed him another brilliant smile, "Come on, I need to run a few errands in town." She said as she held out a hand.

Krater made a motion to turn down her offer until he once again noticed her body language practically daring him to turn her down. He smiled a little nervously and took her hand as he stood up. Virilia slipped on her boots at the door and the two went out to her car, clambered inside and drove into town at about 8:30 AM.

While in town, they spent the morning going from shop to shop getting some groceries for the house, filled her car up with gas, placed an order for ammunition for her command wolf and Raider. She also dragged him to a clothing shop to get him some new clothes when she heard he only had a couple outfits aside from what he was wearing and bought him some new clothes.

By lunchtime, they stopped at the zoid pilots lounge to eat. There weren't too many people there so they soon had their food and sat in a booth across from the vid screen which was displaying another two battles going on in the area at the same time. They ate and chatted cheerfully the whole time and watched the battles, often commenting on how the different teams were fairing and obvious mistakes they made.

Virilia really surprised Krater; she was able to point out every mistake in every battle she watched down to the slightest maneuver. _Wow... good thing we're on the same team now!_ He thought in wonder to himself.

About an hour and a half later, they left the lounge and headed home. They put away the groceries, Krater put his new clothes into his drawer and the two of them spent the rest of the day lounging around the house.

During those hours, Krater took note of a few of Virilia's other eccentricities. For one, in addition to her strong desire for a spotless house and contradictory body language, she would start fiddling with her fingernails every time things got awkward or something embarrassing happened like say she spilled or dropped something. Also, he noticed that every time she would go to enter the bathroom or his bedroom she would knock precisely four times in a diamond shape, regardless of whether or not someone was actually inside, before entering. He couldn't help but chuckle every time he thought about that last one and it made him wonder where that got started.

Later that evening after dinner, Krater walked outside the front door and went over to where Raider was standing behind the gustav and sat down at the zoid's left foot with a sigh. The rev raptor's eyes shimmered a moment and a quiet rumble carried through the air. Krater shook his head with the wave of a hand, "No Raider, I'm fine. Just thought I'd step outside and pay you a visit since I didn't talk to you yesterday." He answered as he rested his back against the cold metal of the zoid's leg. "So tell me, what do you think? Virilia's quite a gal isn't she? Do you think it was a good idea for me to join up with her?" He asked curiously with a smile.

Raider's eyes flashed again and another low roar sounded in response and Krater laughed with a slight blush, scratching the back of his head, "Haha... yeah, ya' got me there. It's hard not to like her... I mean, she's beautiful, pretty nice, playful, smart... she gets a little timid whenever something awkward happens, but that's okay, I kind of like that myself..." He sighed and glanced up at the darkening sky. The sun was almost out of sight and the stars were beginning to blink into view.

A smile spread across Krater's face as he said, "Hey Raider, wanna go for a midnight stroll?"

Ten minutes after midnight, Krater and Raider were some distance from the town, running full speed across the vast wastelands. Virilia was sound asleep when he left, so he was quiet about leaving so they didn't wake her up. After a while, Krater opened the cockpit while they were running and let the wind blast him as the distance between them and a small hill rapidly shortened, finding the feeling refreshing and let out an excited shout.

They reached the foot of the hill and Raider quickly began ascending to the top when Krater noticed light shining dimly up ahead. Curious, he had his mechanical companion slow down considerably and they soon crested the hill, which actually turned out to be a cliff that dropped down a hundred and fifty feet to more flat wasteland. However, at the bottom of the cliff were an assortment of tents and vehicles. Krater also quickly noticed the presence of other zoids in the camp: five command wolves, two red horns and a dozen guysaks. He could also see a single gray shield liger next to one of the larger tents.

"Huh, that's strange... what're these guys doing out here? And why are there so many?" Krater mumbled to himself as he had Raider close the cockpit so he could make use of the scope. Down below he noted that there were a lot of guys dressed in what almost looked like uniforms but none that the young pilot recognized. "They're not from the ZBC and I know those aren't the Backdraft's men down there... so who the heck are they? And what exactly are they up to?"

He swept his scope across the camp, trying to find some hint of what was going on, when the shield liger he'd seen earlier began to move and, much to his dismay, looked directly at him.

"...Uh oh... looks like they know I'm here." He mumbled as he watched the shield liger, two command wolves and four of the guysaks take off along the base of the cliff. "They're gonna get here soon... I wonder what I should do. If these guys are doing something shady they'll probably attack me first and ask questions later..." At that he turned Raider to run down the side opposite to the one the shield liger's group was approaching and began the descent towards the bottom. "Hopefully they won't chase me, because I highly doubt I can handle that many zoids in a fight by myself..." He frowned, nervous now that he could possibly be in a very dangerous situation.

He was almost at the bottom when a command wolf suddenly appeared from behind a large boulder and aimed its AZ 50mm Dual Barrel Rifle at him. Krater's comm. link crackled and an image of a man wearing a fairly plain black jacket with an equally nondescript helmet came up on his display, "Whoever you are, stop right there!" He barked furiously.

Krater complied and quickly hit the brakes, bringing Raider skidding to a stop as it reached the bottom. His zoid gave an uneasy roar as he watched the command wolf. The young pilot decided it would probably be best to try and explain things now before that shield liger got here, "Hey, look, I was just taking my zoid out for a run and I found this camp of yours by accident. I don't even know what's going on, much less who you guys are." He said to the man calmly.

"Shut it!" Snapped the stranger. Krater flinched at the shout. "The others will be here in a moment and then we'll decide what to do with you." He finished a little more calmly, though his frustration was obvious at this point.

Krater sighed and mumbled, "What's his problem?" He certainly didn't like the sound of what the guy meant by 'what to do with you'. Judging from his harshness, maybe these guys were doing something shady... heck he didn't know, but if that was true he wasn't going to be getting out of here very easily. He could already hear the thundering footsteps of the other zoids approaching and he was in no mood to try and deal with that kind of force alone.

He had to act fast. _Let's see... I could fire at him and then run, but he'd probably just chase me and alert his allies... so I'll need to disable his zoid..._ He nodded to himself and turned off his comm. channel. "Alright Raider, listen up. We're gonna blast him and use your blades to damage one of his command wolf's legs... then we run for it. There's no way we can fight all these guys by ourselves." He quickly said as he watched the enemy command wolf carefully. Raider roared in response, making the other zoid noticeably uncomfortable.

"Now!" He shouted and Raider fired off a round of shots into the command wolf, hitting the ground at its feet and its left shoulder, jostling both zoid and pilot for a second. That gave Krater all the time he needed and Raider rushed forward with a roar. The rev raptor's blades shot out and connected with the command wolf's front left and hind left legs causing severe damage and the zoid collapsed instantly.

"Okay, now let's bail! Full speed!" Krater shouted as Raider roared and took off into the darkness.

It was just in time too, because the shield liger and its escorts soon arrived to find their companion damaged. The gray shield liger took a few steps forward and the cockpit lifted to reveal a young man of maybe twenty dressed in dark gray pants, black combat boots, a bulky black jacket and black fingerless gloves with short spiky black hair and dark brown eyes. "Jrouler you alright?" He called to the damaged command wolf as its cockpit lifted up.

The pilot clambered out and sat on the damaged zoid with a huff, "Yeah I'm fine, but my command wolf's got some pretty serious damage thanks to that stupid brat." He replied angrily.

The shield liger's pilot hummed thoughtfully as he looked off into the distance, "Do you think he knows what we're doing out here?" He asked almost absently.

Jrouler took of his helmet off to reveal he was a little younger then the other man, maybe eighteen at best with a slightly rounded face, blue eyes and short messy hazel brown hair, "Pah, of course not. I talked to him before he took off; he was apparently taking a joy ride out here when he found us. I could tell he wasn't lying, the guy was like an open book." He then set his helmet down beside him, "But he's gonna talk about what he saw here and I just know the ZBC or someone is gonna be dispatched to this area."

The black haired man shrugged, "Well, it's no good now, he's already gotten away." He then sat down and said, "Come on, we'll get a gustav over here to pick up your command wolf. We need to move to the secondary campsite now that this one's been discovered." Jrouler nodded and clambered up into the shield liger's backseat and the group disappeared back into camp before retrieving the damaged command wolf.

Within two hours, the entire campsite was gone without a trace.

Meanwhile, Krater and Raider immediately returned to Virilia's house after their encounter with those strangers. The black haired youth tried to be quiet about it, but he soon noticed it wasn't needed; Virilia was standing in the doorway in her pajamas and that long sleeved shirt and looking half tired and annoyed. He parked Raider on the gustav again and jumped down from the cockpit as his tired partner came up to greet him.

"Where have you been? I woke up half an hour ago to get a drink of water when I noticed Raider was gone." She asked quietly with a half-lidded gaze.

Krater scratched the back of his head, "Me and Raider went for a run."

"Raider and I" She instantly corrected him.

"Right..."

"Well come on back to bed... I've been up waiting because I thought something might have-" She yawned and turned back to the door, "Hm, excuse me... I thought something might have happened so I was worried..." She stated as she rubbed her eyes.

Krater couldn't help but smile, she looked so cute like that, especially since her hair was a mess again. This was a side of her that nobody else would probably ever see and he felt almost privileged to know that.

"Alright. Sorry for making you wait up on me..." He apologized as he led the tired young woman back inside. Virilia mumbled something incoherent in response and swayed on her feet before he caught her by the arm. Seeing that she was too tired, he simply picked her up in his arms and carried her back to her own room, laid her in her bed and returned to his own bedroom and went to sleep.

--

And there you have it. The end of Chapter 3. Have I provided you with a decent mind teaser? Remember those guys because they'll be back soon enough. :P


	5. Chapter 4 Alpha Team's First Battle!

Alright, I've decided after taking a good look at the rate I'm writing this, I'm going to try updating twice a week. Writing this is proving to be very entertaining!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids or any of its official characters. Only Krater, Virilia, Jrouler, the mystery man and the new face belong to me.

**Chapter 4: Alpha Team's First Battle!**

"Rise and shine, Krater!" The cheerful voice of a well rested Virilia shattered the quiet of the morning and the young mercenary jumped, jostled from his sleep and bolted upright to find that his companion and hostess was standing right beside his bed. She was dressed in a sky blue long sleeved shirt, a short blue and white skirt, white stockings and the choker he saw her wearing yesterday. She was also wearing an apron, so he assumed she must have made breakfast.

"I'll rise, but I can't promise I'll shine..." He mumbled as he rubbed his eyes with a yawn and glanced at the clock to see it was already ten o'clock in the morning. "Wow, it's that time already?" He muttered his surprise.

Virilia nodded as she turned towards the door and started to walk out, "Yeah, I figured you were tired since you got back late and decided to let you sleep in a while." She then looked at him over her shoulder with a beaming grin, "Come on, I made breakfast already so come eat up before it gets cold." Then she disappeared down the hall and he heard her descend the stairs.

He yawned again and went to the bathroom, grabbed a towel and took a quick shower before getting dressed in blue jeans, a crimson long-sleeved shirt and some socks and went down to the kitchen.

He was surprised to find that Virilia had cooked up a huge spread. He saw eggs; both scrambled and sunny side up, crispy bacon, sausage, steamed rice, a nicely sized juicy piece of ham, grits, pancakes swimming in syrup, miso soup and grilled fish. Krater stood in wonder, trying to comprehend how Virilia had thought two people would need this much food.

The silver haired girl must have noticed, because she started fiddling with her fingernails and said, "Um, sorry if it seems a bit much. When I came to check on you a little earlier your stomach was growling pretty loudly so I figured you'd be really hungry. Besides, I like a healthy breakfast myself." By the time she got to the last sentence she got over her embarrassment and clasped her hands behind her with a smile.

Come to think of it, the site of all this food reminded Krater he was indeed very hungry. As if to further prove it, his stomach let out a fierce growl as if to say, "FEED ME!" and Krater let out a laugh with a blush, "Looks that way. Well then let's eat!" He exclaimed as they grabbed their plates, stacked them with food, grabbed something to drink and joyfully began eating in the dining room. The two of them chatted a lot while they ate, discussing what they'd do today. Eventually the subject of zoid battles came up and Krater asked, "So any word from the ZBC on when we have our first match?"

Virilia shook her head, "No not yet." She replied somewhat disappointed as she fiddled with her scrambled eggs before finishing off the last few bites.

Krater sighed and finished off the rest of his breakfast, grabbed some more and returned to his place next to Virilia. "Well then, do you want to get in some practice today? I'd like to see how you pilot your command wolf and that ammunition you ordered the other day should be in sometime later, right?" He offered with a smile in her direction.

Virilia nodded and returned the gesture, "Yes I think that would be a good idea. We should also discuss how we're going to handle ourselves in battle. From what I've seen of your time with the Zabre Team I've already got a pretty good idea on what to do, but I'd like to hear your input after I've shown you some things." She took a sip of her orange juice.

Krater nodded and they finished breakfast ten minutes later. They cleaned up after themselves and put the leftovers in the fridge, put their boots on and the two of them hopped into their zoids.

Raider's eyes flashed and the mechanized raptor gave a roar of curiosity. Krater smiled, "We're going to go practice in the wasteland Raider. Virilia's gonna show me some of her moves too." He answered his partner, the two zoids leaving the outskirts of town behind them and soon arriving at a secluded strip of wasteland six miles from town. A quick look around showed Krater there wasn't anyone here and that he and Virilia were quite alone.

His comm. link flared to life and Virilia's voice called out as her face showed up on his visor, "Alright Krater. Let's see what you've got!" She challenged him with an excited grin.

Krater laughed and shouted, "Let's go!" Raider roared and rushed forward towards Virilia's command wolf which stood waiting patiently, ready to move. Once Raider was closer the dark blue command wolf exploded into action, darting off to the side to avoid Raider's charge, quickly running around to try and get behind him, but both zoid and pilot were smart enough not to let that happen, whipping around in time to see and dodge her as she attempted to ram him.

The young man beamed with excitement as Raider jumped to the side. _She's fast, really fast! _"Raider, let's show her what we got!" He called to his zoid, the rev raptor roaring in response and chased after Virilia's command wolf, barely keeping up with her. She suddenly whipped around and tried to catch him off guard, but Raider was ready and dodged and smacked against the command wolf's left shoulder with his tail as he passed her by.

He didn't stop there; Raider about faced and charged at the mechanical wolf's back, but Virilia jumped away, turning in midair to face him again and the two stood staring each other down. The pilots were panting a little at this point, until they both started laughing and their zoids eased up again.

Virilia was the first to speak with a bright smile, "You're not half bad Krater. You and Raider react quickly and you seem to be pretty good at close in fighting."

Krater shook his head, "Yeah but if we'd actually been using our weapons we'd have been in trouble. You and your command wolf are really fast! You were running circles around me at the start there." He replied with a bit of a frown.

"That's just because I've been at this a little longer then you. And actually, if you ask me, had we been using weapons, I think I would have been the one in trouble. That time when you hit me with your tail, you probably could have sliced my zoid up pretty badly with those blades of yours." She corrected him with a knowing smile. "Now let's keep going! We've still got a long time before we need to go pick up the ammunition."

Krater grinned, "Alrighty then! Let's go!" He exclaimed and the two burst into action again. They chased each other around for several hours, their zoids wrestling and testing each other as their practicing took them all over the area. The young mercenary was having a blast the whole time and he knew Virilia was as well; he could hear her excited voice over the comm. channel the entire time.

When it was time to stop, Krater let out a tired huff of exhaustion as he slumped in his seat slightly, "Whew... that was intense." He stated breathlessly as he wiped his forehead and Virilia's face popped up on his screen again. "You can say that again. We should do this more often, I think it's good for our zoids." She said in agreement.

Raider then let out a roar and Krater saw his beautiful friend's confusion; he laughed and said, "Raider says yes, it is." Virilia smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I can tell my command wolf enjoyed it too." She said as she stroked a side panel almost like she was petting the zoid.

The two of them turned and headed back towards town, but while they were walking, Krater decided to ask, "Say, how come you didn't name your zoid?" He was curious since he noticed she always said 'my zoid' or 'my command wolf'. Virilia gave him a confused look, cast her gaze down and said, "Well, I didn't think it necessary. I mean, I like my command wolf but I don't think I'll be piloting her forever... I know I'm eventually going to end up switching to a different zoid, so I think if I name her she might get sad when I one day stop piloting her." Then she looked up again and then asked, "...Why did you choose to name your rev raptor Raider?" He could hear the curiosity and slight confusion in her voice.

He smiled as he looked down at the control panel, "Because, even if I don't pilot Raider forever, he's still my partner, my pal. By giving him a name I think it helps us bond and connect so we can do well together." Then he laughed and looked at Virilia with a grin, "But let me tell ya it was tough picking a name he liked! I must have suggested at least thirty different names before he found one he liked!"

Virilia watched him curiously, taken aback by what he said. She hummed thoughtfully to herself and looked down at the control panels for her command wolf. A rumble sounded from its mouth and Virilia smiled, looked up at Krater's face and said, "Okay... I'll try to think of a name..." Then she frowned lightly, "But I'm not good at coming up with names... so I'll need your help."

Krater nodded, "Okay. Just think about things that would fit her. First let's look at her physical attributes: she's a blue wolf that can move really fast. I don't know much about her personality so I can't give any suggestions on that... but I suggested the name Raider because it started with an 'R' like in Raptor and because of the way raptors from old earth acted." He grinned, "I also thought it sounded cool so I was glad that he liked it."

Virilia took what he said to heart and was quiet for a long time, obviously thinking deeply on the subject. After a long time, she smiled and said aloud, "Verlia...?" A little uncertain. The command wolf snorted and a rumble gave the impression she was saying 'No'. She pouted and folded her arms together, "Aw and after all the thought I put into it..." She grumbled as she tried to think of another name. She was silent for another minute or so before she spouted, "Fiona...?" But the command wolf once again turned it down.

Virilia was already getting frustrated at this point and started listing off random names at this point, most of them the names you would give to other people, some unusual names that she heard somewhere, "...Jill, Vika, Diana, Lilia, Via, Marie, Megan, Pricilla... no? Ugh! I give up! That's all I've got..." She declared with a pout as the two zoids pulled into her driveway again. She heard Krater laugh and blushed slightly, clearly embarrassed. "Well do you have any suggestions, Krater?" She finally asked as she opened the cockpit and jumped down to the ground at about the time that her companion walked up beside her.

He nodded as he turned to look at her zoid, "...Well, off the top of my head I could suggest Aoi and Saphira because of the color of her armor... then there's Navilia, Spira, Ralia... um... if those don't work I can think of some others..." He trailed off as he scratched the back of his head.

Virilia blinked and tried suggesting each name to her command wolf and almost thought she would reject all of them until she said Navilia. When that name was mentioned, the command wolf hummed and considered it before nodding slightly with a grunt. Virilia smiled and clasped her hands together behind her with a sigh, looked up at her zoid and said, "Alright then... from now on, your name is Navilia." With a satisfied smile.

At that, she about faced and tilted her head with a quirked eyebrow, "So where did you get that name from?" She asked curiously as the two of them walked over to the car and clambered in, turned it on and headed into town to go get the ammunition they ordered. Krater smiled, scratching the back of his head, "The color of her armor again. She almost looks navy blue so I chose to make a name with that for the base." He replied as he leaned against his seat, his beautiful companion at the wheel.

Virilia smiled and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, "You're good at making names. Where'd you pick up that kind of skill?" She asked curiously, returning her attention to the road. Krater laughed and popped his neck, "My mom and dad told me I have a strong imagination." He answered with a slight blush; _Sometimes it's too strong..._ He thought to himself as he remembered some of the dreams his imagination had devised for him concerning a certain rookie and a beautiful young woman in questionable situations.

His silver haired companion smiled again, apparently not noticing and said, "That's good to hear. That'll make things interesting."

Shortly thereafter, the two of them arrived at one of the weapon shops and drove around back where they found their order waiting. Virilia went around to the front to let the manager know they were here to pick up their order and Krater started hauling the big cases into the backseat and the trunk of the car.

When he went to get the last case and hoisted it up onto his shoulder he heard someone whistle and turned to see someone watching him load up the ammunition. It was another girl, this one maybe a year younger than him. She was just a hair's width shorter then him and was all curves from head to toe, even more so then Virilia. She had shoulder length crimson hair that ended in curls and big blue eyes, a small nose, red lip stick and wore a red halter top with a pair of long gloves that ended at the elbow in the same color, a maroon belt and dark blue pants that hugged every inch of her slender legs and crimson shin high boots. Tied around her waist was a darker crimson jacket, she wore several bracelets on her right wrist and she had a pair of earrings with rubies on. He also noticed she was just as 'well developed' as Virilia, if not more. And unlike Virilia, her coyly curious face mirrored the vibe her body language was sending.

"That's a lot of ammunition you've got there handsome. You really need that much?" She asked with a coy grin and waltzed over to him while he put the last pack of ammunition away, closed the trunk and looked to the girl with a smile.

"Nah, it's not all for me. Virilia needed some for Navilia too." He replied, soliciting another curious expression from the stranger beside him. "My name's Krater Vrasik by the way. What's yours?" He asked as he leaned against the car and waited for his roommate to return.

The woman looked surprised at his name for a moment before she gained another curious grin, got closer to him and leaned against him, placing her hands on his chest as she got up in his face, "If you really want to know, Mr. Mercenary, my name is Renia Krider and I have to say, you're an interesting guy." She whispered as she gazed into his green orbs with her own blue ones. "You impressed a lot of people with your performance working for the Zabre Team." She smiled with a half lidded gaze.

Krater blushed; this girl was far too close for comfort. Not that he was particularly complaining, but he didn't want Virilia to see him in this position with some random chick. "D-did I?" He stuttered and she nodded in response and began making circling motions on his chest with one finger and leaned in closer to whisper into his ear, "Indeed you did. Of course, I'm also curious, how do you 'perform' off the battlefield?" She was teasing him at this point, testing him to see his reactions and she was having loads of fun doing it.

The young mercenary couldn't keep his countenance together any longer and turned bright red, sweat beginning to form on his forehead and face as the girl continued to test him. At this point she had determined he was the type who couldn't resist the power of her feminine wiles and she wasn't too far off the mark either. It was only thanks to a familiar voice that Krater was able to escape from this situation with some of his reputation as a man intact.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Sounded Virilia's shocked and angry voice as she ran over to them. Renia backed off with a satisfied smile and folded her arms together below her chest as the silver haired girl stood beside a thoroughly embarrassed Krater.

Renia giggled and winked, "No need to worry little girl, I was just acquainting myself with Mr. Mercenary over there. I was just about to ask him if he was available for employment when you so rudely interrupted us." She finished with a pout.

Virilia was obviously very angry considering the dangerous look she was throwing at the redhead, one that Krater found he didn't like seeing on her face it just didn't suit her at all. "No he isn't available; he's working with me now." She snapped with forced calmness as she tried to settle down.

The redhead put on another pout and feigned sadness, "Oh pooh... and I was looking forward to seeing what all of his 'skills' were." She replied as she looked at the young man and winked at him.

Virilia caught the gesture and put herself between the redhead and her friend, but before she could do anything else Krater put a hand on her shoulder. She looked back at him and he shook his head. "Just don't... it's not worth it." He stated in an attempt to calm her. The red eyed girl sighed and the fierceness seemed to drain right out of her as she clasped her hands together behind her and she glanced off to the side.

"So tell me, how good is he?" Came the redhead's voice again with another coy smile. Virilia understood perfectly well what she was implying and gave her a sharp glare as a reply. Renia giggled and waved a hand dismissively, "Oh take it easy, I'm just messing around. No need to be so serious about it." She teased and winked at both of them. Virilia didn't stop glaring at her but her stance did ease up so she looked less like a cat ready to pounce.

"Anyway, since you didn't hear, my name is Renia Krider. From what I heard Mr. Mercenary say you must be Virilia, am I right?" She added with another smile. The silver haired girl looked at her perplexed for a moment, nodded and added, "Virilia Shradner", obviously wondering how she knew that. Renia winked and added, "He mentioned your name when I commented on all that ammunition." Virilia made an 'Oh' shape with her mouth and took a few steps back so she was beside Krater again.

"...I've heard that name before." The silver haired girl muttered as she thought about it. "...Renia Krider... you're a mercenary too, aren't you?" She asked as she looked to the redheaded vixen in front of her.

Renia grinned and nodded, "Yup, that's me! Class B zoid pilot of the Lightning Saix. Renia Krider the Scarlet Streak." She stated with a flourish and another wink in Krater's direction.

Virilia scowled and looked off to the side, "Psh, yeah right. More like Renia Rider the Scarlet Streaker..." She mumbled quietly enough that only Krater heard her and he glanced at her curiously. Renia must have at least caught on to what she might have said and frowned with a furrowed brow.

"So I sleep with the men on the teams that hire me, so what? It's not like its part of the job; I just do it because it's fun. And I don't think you have any room to talk anyway, Virilia Straddler." She had another one of those coy smiles by the time she finished her last sentence and winked at Krater, shifting her center of gravity onto her left leg.

Krater could see Virilia was ready to get violent here, Renia had touched a few nerves too many with her comments. So, in an attempt to diffuse this situation before it got to that, Krater placed his hands on Virilia's shoulders and turned her towards the car, giving her a gentle shove towards the driver's side as he said, "Well, it was nice meeting you Renia, but Virilia and I really need to get going. We've got to get this ammo home and taken care of."

Renia smiled coyly again and sauntered over to him as he opened the passenger door, leaned in close and whispered into his ear, "If you ever need some help... or you're just looking for a good time... give me a call." And slipped a piece of paper into his front pants pocket and caused him to blush deeply at the proximity. She then winked and pecked him on the cheek, "See you around, Mr. Mercenary." She finished and took a few steps back as the blushing Krater sat down in the car; shut the door and an irate Virilia drove them away towards the house.

Standing there alone in the lot, Renia pressed a finger to her lips with a curious hum and mumbled, "He's cute... pushing his buttons is fun... this makes things interesting." She pouted with a frown and 'hmph'd as she glared off to the side, "But how come that high-strung hussy gets to have him first?"

Meanwhile, Virilia and Krater were quiet the whole back to the house. The silver maned beauty driving was quietly fuming the entire time, mumbling incoherent things under her breath as her gaze remained fixated on the road. Krater tried several times to start a conversation but would either receive no reply or briefly become the target of her venting. It wasn't until the car was parked in her driveway and they were unloading the ammunition that she started making her frustrations known to him without him being the target.

"That cocky, insufferable, slutty, vulgar, self-centered..." She went on for at least a minute listing adjectives that she thought befitted the redhead they just encountered before she finally finished with, "...whore! I should have just punched her in the face and been done with it!"

By that time, they had already unloaded the ammo so she sat down with a huff against Navilia's front right leg. The blue command wolf let out a quiet rumble of concern and the silver maned girl let out another huff as she closed her eyes with a frown, "It's nothing Navilia... we just ran into the most annoying person I've ever met!" She snapped.

At this point, Krater was tired of hearing her be so angry. It just didn't belong, Virilia's face was not made for that frown and her voice wasn't meant to make so angry a sound. He walked over to her and sat down beside her placing a hand on her shoulder with a consoling smile, "Look, just forget what Renia said. It's obvious she doesn't know you at all... and something tells me we don't know everything about her. So let's just pretend that never happened."

Her response was a sharp glare in his direction and he flinched with an uneasy smile before speaking, "...um, besides... I uh..." He blushed slightly and looked away, "...I like it better when you smile."

Virilia gave him a startled look that seemed to drain all of the anger right out of her and her cheeks turned red. "...W-what?" She asked uncertain she'd heard him right.

He scratched the back of his head and looked at her with another uneasy smile, "...That angry look just doesn't fit you. You... you look prettier when you smile, that's all..." He finished as he looked at her.

The girl's face had become as red as her eyes at this point and she looked down at her lap as she started fiddling with her fingernails. "W-well... i-if you say so... um... I guess you could be right... I'll um... I'll overlook it this time." Her voice had grown exceptionally quiet by the time she was done to the point where he had to strain his ear to hear her.

Krater smiled and went to pack up the ammo. He loaded some of it into Raider and Navilia and then took the rest of it inside and a quieter Virilia led him to a door that led into her basement where he set the ammunition down in a neat stack.

By the time that they were done, Virilia's cell phone rang and she answered it with an excited smile when she saw the letters 'ZBC' flash on her screen. Krater was sitting on the couch beside her when she did that and waited until she clicked her phone shut with a great big grin, "So who was that?" He asked curiously.

She looked at him with one of her vibrant smiles, "The Zoid Battle Commission has our team's first battle decided! It's this Thursday! We're up against the Gun Strike Team. Battle mode: 0982. We should be getting the data now so..." She picked up her remote and tuned the TV into a connection with her computer and data from the ZBC started appearing on the screen. It listed the data on their opponents and displayed the types of zoids they use.

"Okay, let's see what we've got..." Mumbled Virilia before she started speaking, "Okay... it looks like the Gun Strike is a team comprised of one command wolf equipped with a single barrel long range beam cannon and shock cannon on the chest; a black Redler equipped with tail blades, long range blasters and light anti-zoid missiles; and last but not least a Dark Horn equipped with twin gatling guns and a missile launcher."

"Looking at this data, it seems their favorite tactic is to use a combination of attacks from the redler and command wolf to limit the enemy's movement and keep them distracted while their slower dark horn moves in and shells them with its gatling guns. Simple, but judging from their battle history, it's working pretty well. They've got other maneuvers they use as well, but this is the one they use the absolute most." When she was finished she smiled and giggled as she looked at Krater.

"I almost feel sorry for these guys. They won't know how to plan for this battle, because this is our first battle so we don't have a history of strategies for them to counter." She winked at Krater and he smiled uneasily.

"Yeah, but on the offhand we've never worked together before. If we don't handle this battle with care our zoids will get turned into scrap metal." He warned with a slightly more serious face.

Virilia nodded and looked back at the screen, "Well then... let's get started. We need to plan what we're going to do..." She said as she and Krater look at the TV screen.

"Right..." Mumbled the young mercenary.

So, over the course of the next few days the two of them began planning how to best handle their battle with the Gun Strike Team and spent a great deal of time practicing out in the wasteland to try out different formations and movements. In the end they decided on a fairly simple tactic to combat their opponents. First of all, they would need to take care of the redler by using Raider's missile launcher and Navilia's missile launcher and, if necessary, her 40mm single barrel rifle. Once the aerial threat is gone, they would be able to concentrate on the command wolf and the dark horn. Considering the dark horn's tough hide, the two of them decided it was best if Krater and Raider moved in and used his blades to take care of it while Virilia and Navilia handle the command wolf.

When the day of the battle came, Krater and Virilia woke up early, grabbed breakfast and got geared up. It was that morning that the young mercenary found out during their practice sessions over the past couple days that the skintight china dress Virilia wore was the outfit she wore into zoid battles. Krater's own getup was pretty simple and not very showy: just a pair of navy blue pants, a white shirt with a crimson jacket, maroon gloves, black boots and a black belt and of course, his crimson helmet with its green visor.

They arrived on the battlefield five minutes before the set time and took a good look at the battlefield. Unlike the battles he'd been in before, Krater was dismayed to find they would be battling in an assortment of canyons and ridges. Which meant the Gun Strike Team would definitely be making use of their redler for the battle and would make it easier for their opponents to herd them around.

Virilia's optimistic smile came up on his screen and she said, "Don't worry Krater, we'll do fine. If anything, this also means the Gun Strike team won't be able to pull its usual tactics either. We should stick together, but not too close or their redler will have a significantly easier time hitting us."

Krater nodded as they and their zoids marched into the closest of the ridges. They couldn't exactly see it, but they heard the distinct sound of the judge capsule flying from the sky and landing with a crash somewhere out of sight. Soon, a familiar voice blared across the area and their comm. links saying, "The area within a 40 kilometer radius is now a designated zoid battle zone. Danger! All others must leave the area immediately."

Virilia grinned excitedly at that, "Looks like it's time to start..."

Krater frowned, "But we can't see the other team."

"That just means they're somewhere else on the battlefield. Let's take this slow and carefully... we don't want them catching us off guard." His beautiful companion spoke calmly and evenly.

The mercenary nodded and prepared to move forward when the judge said, "Alpha Team vs. The Gun Strike Team. Battle mode: 0982. Ready..."

He gripped the controls of his zoid tightly with a smile slipping onto his face. He knew this battle wouldn't be easy and there was a good chance they'd lose, but he was excited because this battle was so different from the other ones he was in.

"FIGHT!"

Both Raider and Navilia burst into action and moved further into the ridge, following the corridors of rock with the command wolf leading and the mechanized raptor guarding their back. They moved fairly quickly, but carefully. Before long, several blips appeared on radar and they could instantly tell which one was the redler because it was passing over the different canyons and ridges quickly.

What confused them, though, was that all three of the members they could see were moving pretty fast. The dark horn shouldn't have been able to move as fast as the two blips on the ground were suggesting.

"That can't be right..." Mumbled Krater with a frown. Virilia mirrored his confusion with a furrowed brow. "Did they have any other zoids?" He asked as they moved forward, coming closer and closer to an encounter with one of the land zoids.

"No, those were their only zoids. Maybe they hired a mercenary when they saw they were up against us... you know, someone with a faster zoid like you." Replied his silver haired partner with a slight frown.

They rounded a bend in the ridge and quickly came face to face with a green command wolf that instantly opened fire the second it saw them. Navilia quickly dodged out of the way, stopping just in time to avoid hitting the canyon wall and Raider side-stepped the shot with a hiss. Navilia returned fire, her 40mm rifle striking the ground at the opposing command wolf's feet and nicking its front left leg as their opponent attempted to dodge the counter attack.

The green command wolf fired a couple more times then turned tail and ran back the way it had come towards the other land zoid on its team. "After him, don't let him get away!" Virilia shouted as Navilia and Raider attempted to give chase, but as soon as they did, the redler blazed overhead and dropped a couple of missiles on their heads.

The two barely managed to avoid the attack and both received minor damage, but nothing serious. Krater frowned; he could instantly see what kind of strategy they were facing.

"Virilia, they're using hit and run tactics against us." He said as he looked at his radar and noticed the command wolf they'd spotted was holding position further down the canyon. "Every time we see that command wolf or whoever else they're working with, they'll shoot at us, run and then the redler will come and hit us from the air."

His partner's beautiful face appeared on his screen off to the side where it wouldn't be in his way and she replied, "Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing. Our biggest concern here is that redler. Because of these stupid ridges it can attack us and disappear before we have time to lock on and fire. For now the best we can do is try to take down the land zoids first until we come up with something better."

Krater nodded and the two of them proceeded forward. Before long they ran into the command wolf again and, just like before, it shot at them a couple of times then turned tail and tried to run. This time however, Raider was able to hit it in its hind right leg with a good shot from one of his beam cannons and slowed it down considerably, but they couldn't catch up to finish him off because of the redler that came by and bombarded them from the air again.

Navilia took a fairly serious hit from one of the redler's missiles that time. Krater heard Virilia let out a frustrated shout, "Aw, my missile launcher's been damaged, I can't fire them anymore." She frowned and the two of them pressed onward.

Around the next bend they were pleased to find a much wider and more spacious section to the canyon ridges with scattered rock formations occupying it. According to the radar the command wolf was here, but they couldn't pinpoint its exact position.

"Move carefully and watch out for that redler... also keep an eye out for that third zoid." Virilia warned as she and Krater had their zoids move further in, staying in one another's sites.

Krater saw motioned between some of the rocks ahead and he grinned, "There!" He pulled the trigger and Raider started laying fire down on that position exploding rock and quickly causing the shelter of the rock formation to collapse to reveal the damaged command wolf standing there with its back-mounted beam cannon aimed right at him.

It fired off a couple of shots, but Raider was able to dodge each one and before their opponent could fire again, several rounds from Navilia's rifle slammed into its main body and the command wolf collapsed to the ground with a howl.

"Alright, that's one down!" Exclaimed a now very excited Virilia. Krater nodded and swept his sites across the sky above them. "But where's the redler? It usually comes by at about here..." He asked as he and his partner moved further in.

Just then another zoid appeared in his line of sight. It came rushing into the larger ridge from an entrance on the other side and moved almost as a black blur along the outer rim around them, easily dodging the rocks in its path. Both Navilia and Raider tried to follow its movements but it was just too fast!

"What is that?!" Krater exclaimed with a frown.

He received no reply from his partner until he pressed the question again and she finally answered, "That's a lightning saix."

At first he didn't catch implications behind that until he heard a familiar voice come up on his comm. link, "Hey, Mr. Mercenary! Looks like we meet again!" His mouth fell open and he gaped as the coyly smiling face of Renia appeared on his screen.

"Renia? You're with the Gun Strike Team?" He asked as he again tried to follow the saix's rapid movement.

"You betcha! When they found out they'd be fighting a command wolf piloted by Virilia Shradner and the rev raptor piloted by the rookie mercenary Krater Vrasik they decided that their dark horn wasn't going to be fast enough to keep up with you... so they hired me and my lightning saix to take his place."

Virilia frowned and one eyebrow twitched, "How many of them have you slept with so far? Lemme guess, all three?" She said with a sharp edge to her voice.

Renia frowned and glared daggers at Virilia's face on her screen, "Of course not! What do you think I am?!" She snapped with uncharacteristic anger, probably a result of the adrenaline they were all starting to feel. The redhead huffed, collected herself, grinned and added, "Now then, I suggest you two stop playing around and kick it up a notch or you'll never beat me!"

She suddenly changed course and rushed past Navilia in an instant, firing off a round from her back-mounted beam cannons. Virilia was just barely able to get Navilia to move and was still hit though she did avoid receiving major damage. The shot exploded against Navilia's right shoulder and the other hit a rock face somewhere behind her. Renia's lightning saix went back on its previous course and continued making similar runs against Navilia and Raider, dealing minor damage to them while they were barely able to react to her approach.

Krater frowned as he saw the redler appear overhead and fly towards them. "Oh no you don't! Not this time!" He exclaimed as he locked on and fired the missiles from his launcher into the air. The ten missiles flew with fierce precision towards their target and despite the pilot's best efforts to avoid being struck he took a direct hit to his left wing and the main body, sending the zoid sailing towards the ground and forcing him to eject before it crashed into the rocks below.

About the same time, Renia made another pass at him and hit Raider in the right arm, disabling one of his beam cannons and jostling them. By now, both Raider and Navilia had sustained considerable damage because of Renia's hit and run tactics.

Virilia was obviously frustrated though she had ceased shouting at this point her face said it all and Krater didn't like to see that look on her face. He watched from his cockpit as Renia ran circles around them, change course and headed his way. The beam cannon on her back flashed and he knew she had fired, but then he suddenly realized something as she flew past him and he barely managed to avoid her shot.

_She gets really close when she passes us... if she comes at me again I should be able to hit her with my blades just by deploying them._ He smiled when he realized this and watched, waiting for Renia to come at him again. He was upset to see her make another pass on Virilia, hitting Navilia where it hurt and causing the command wolf to collapse. He saw Virilia slam her small fist on one of the panels beside her as her screen read 'command system freeze'.

"She got me! Krater it's up to you! Bring her down." She called to him with a sigh as she folded her arms together.

It was then Renia's voice chimed in and she appeared on his and Virilia's screens with a coy grin, "Oh I'd like to see him 'bring me down' alright. Maybe after the battle's over... how's that sound Mr. Mercenary?" She teased with a wink and Krater blushed only slightly. The adrenaline from this battle helped keep him focused on the battle and so he was able to surprise her with a calm face and an even, "Not interested."

The redhead frowned with a pout and mumbled, "Oh... too bad. I guess I should just finish this up then." And altered course to charge him again.

Krater smirked as she blazed towards him, fired at him and came within fifty feet of him. "NOW!" Krater shouted and Raider's blades shot out just as Renia's saix was passing him by. The momentum of the blades shooting out against the saix's momentum moving the other way provided enough force to slice a jagged tear down the length of the entire right side of the zoid.

Renia let out a shocked shout as she lost control of her zoid and it fell, crashed and tumbled across the canyon floor, smashing into some of the rock formations until it came to a skidding stop. The redhead was out cold with a few bad bumps and bruises and her systems read 'command system freeze'. The judge blared his horns across the battlefield and over the comm. links saying, "The battle is over! The battle is over! The winner is... Alpha Team!"

Krater and Raider instantly went into action when they knew they won and rushed over to Renia's lightning saix. The young mercenary didn't answer when Virilia asked him where he was going because she too soon realized what he was doing. Raider skidded to a stop and Krater quickly jumped from his cockpit and rushed over to Renia's damaged zoid, popped open the cockpit and found her unconscious. He grimaced at the bruises and bumps she had and felt bad as he unbuckled her and pulled her out of her cockpit and gently set her down on the ground.

He looked up at her lightning saix and frowned. It had taken some serious damage in the crash, even more so then the damage his blades did. He almost would have written the poor thing off as totaled but he noticed that the zoid core wasn't damaged.

He sighed and looked down at Renia's face which sported a nasty bump on her forehead and a scrape on her left cheek and leaned in close. He was relieved to find she was still breathing. He checked her pulse and then her heart beat and found that everything checked out, but that bang to the head had been the knockout.

So, he picked her up in his arms and walked over to Raider as the zoid knelt down on the ground and made it easier for him to put her in the cockpit. He didn't have a backseat, so he had to have her in his lap when he closed the cockpit and walked over to the damaged Navilia, popped open the cockpit and looked down at Virilia, "Virilia, I've got Renia with me, she's out cold. I'm going to get my gustav over here to pick up Navilia and Renia's lightning saix, wait here."

Virilia nodded and before long he was back with Raider and the gustav. He then moved Raider off and used his mechanical companion to help the damaged Navilia get up onto one of the trailers, moved to the damaged saix and did the same with a great deal more effort since it couldn't move. Meanwhile, Virilia took the unconscious Renia and laid her across the back seat and bandaged up some of her scrapes and treated some of her bumps.

Once everything was together, they went to check on the others from the Gun Strike Team only to find that they had already vacated the area along with their damaged zoids. Krater was disappointed to realized that they had just left Renia behind. _What, they think just because she's a mercenary they don't have to look out for her? Those jerks!_ He thought with noticeable anger.

Heading home, Virilia drove the gustav while Krater rode in the backseat with Renia to keep an eye on her, with Raider following along on his own. The ride back to town took a couple hours and when they got there Krater carried Renia into their house and laid her down on the couch, put a blanket over her, a pillow under her head and waited to see if she would wake up...

--

Originally, this was going to be longer, but I decided the next bit would fit better in its own chapter rather then sticking it in here with Alpha Team's first official battle. I'm glad I seperated the two parts, because it gave me a bit more leeway with the next chapter and also gave me a chance to reveal a bit more of Krater's character, Renia's character and give some development to Virilia as well.


	6. Chapter 5 Can we fix it? Yes we can!

Alright everyone, here's chapter five. One of the problems I had was making everything about the lightning saix and the things Krater said sound technical and make sense, but that's kind of hard... so here goes.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids or any of its official characters. Krater, Virilia, Renia, Jrouler, and the mystery man are mine.

**Chapter 5: Can we fix it? Yes we can!**

It was another hour before she finally started to stir and the members of Alpha Team had already eaten dinner and kept some leftovers for when she woke. When she did, she was greatly surprised to find herself in Virilia's house with her and Krater looking at her. She started and bolted upright, only to quickly regret it as a monstrous headache assaulted her and forced her back down with a groan.

"Ow my head..." She grumbled with squinted eyes and a frown.

"Not surprising, you hit your head pretty hard..." Stated Krater quietly so that it didn't bother her.

Renia looked around groggily for a second before everything clicked into place and she let out a quiet huff. "So I lost huh? What happened? All I remember is I suddenly lose control of my lightning saix, I'm getting shook all up in my cockpit... then I wake up here." She asked in great confusion.

Virilia smiled and looked at Krater, "When you came around to hit Raider again, Krater had him deploy his blades at the same time you were passing by and got your lightning saix good." She answered for him with a satisfied tone.

Renia glanced at her then at Krater who was frowning and listened as he said, "...Renia, I'm sorry. If I had known doing that would have gotten you seriously injured I would have just let you win."

The redhead waved a dismissive hand in the air and replied, "Bah... don't worry about it... I'll be fine in a few days." Then she smiled as an idea came to mind, "...But you know... for putting my life in danger like that you should do something for me in return..."

Virilia's expression quickly went from victorious smile to suspicious frown at that, but the redhead quickly continued.

"...I'm assuming that since my lightning saix crashed going full speed, it's pretty much totaled..." At this, Virilia seemed to settle down and Krater nodded.

"...Yeah. The frame's pretty tore up and a lot of its parts flew off, but luckily the core wasn't damaged so it's still salvageable." He stated as he looked at the injured redhead.

She smiled and nodded, "Thought so... could you fix it for me? I've grown very attached to my lightning saix..." She finished with a hopeful look that, combined with her beat up state, made it very difficult to say no.

Virilia was opposed to it right away and she quickly voiced her opinion, albeit in a low voice, "Krater, you do not have to fix her lightning saix for her! She was our opponent and lost. Fixing it is her problem."

Krater sighed and shook his head, "No, Virilia you're wrong. I do have to fix it for her. I got her seriously hurt; in fact that crash could have killed her if she had landed wrong... besides I'm also trying to think of the lightning saix's feelings..." He replied seriously, trailing off at the end with a downcast gaze.

Virilia finally sighed and gave up trying to convince him otherwise. When he agreed, Renia smiled and asked, "...So...Having anything to eat? I'm kinda hungry." Even though she was in Virilia's house, the redhead didn't ask very politely and it tugged on Virilia's nerves a little.

However she nodded and got her something to eat and drink while Krater went outside to further inspect the full damage done to the lightning saix. He frowned as he walked over to a pile of all the smaller pieces of debris. A lot of it had chunks of rocks stuck in them and some parts had been completely demolished. Fixing such a wreck would prove to be a difficult task, but after surveying everything that needed to be repaired, replaced and put back together, he found that it was very possible.

He first started by separating what was scrap from salvageable, picking the rocks out of the parts that could be saved, and sorted them according to importance and function. He quickly discovered that a lot of the command connections would have to be completely replaced; they were broken in a lot of places. He also found out, much to his relief, that most of the saix's stabilizers and boosters had only taken minor damage.

The engine, however, for the most part was totally gone. He was only able to save two of its components, the wires and cables that connected the engine to the stabilizers and power core and its command connections to the cockpit console. The saix's 'eyes' were shattered too so those would have to be replaced and he soon realized that much of its armor and exterior plating would have to be replaced.

The back-mounted beam cannon on its back was bent in two different directions and had come off completely in the crash, but it was still relatively intact. The saix's head-mounted Vulcan cannons, however, would have to be replaced having been completely crushed by rocks and he also discovered that the optical illusion functions that allowed it to confuse enemy missiles and cloak for short times was also critically damaged and would have to be replaced.

It took him two hours to fully assess everything and when he was done he sat down with a sigh and wiped his sweaty brow. "Man, this is gonna be tough..." He mumbled as saw Virilia's shadow come up behind him and sit down beside him. "How's Renia?" He asked without looking at her.

"She's asleep. I gave her some medicine for her headache after she ate and she was out like a light." She replied as she looked at the damaged saix and Krater nodded. "So how bad is it really?"

"Well, it's as bad as it looks. Most of the exterior armor is trashed and some of its more vital parts are either severely damaged or unsalvageable. The zoid core is the only thing with zero damage." He heaved a tired sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "But I can fix it. I'll have to go into town and get some of the parts I need, some we have here thankfully, and I'm going to take the scraps to the junkyard and see what we can get for them."

Virilia nodded and looked at him with a confused, curious expression, "...I know you said it before, but why are you so dead set on helping her fix her lightning saix? I don't like having to deal with her..." She asked as she watched him, frowning.

The young mercenary looked up at the sky as the sun started its descent towards the horizon and sighed, "Well... like I mentioned before, it's not just Renia I feel bad for... I also feel bad for the lightning saix." He answered as he closed his eyes.

The silver maned beauty beside him watched him curiously. "...So you're also thinking of the zoid's feelings?" She stated more then asked as she looked at him in wonder.

He nodded, "Yeah... I mean, I know the saix isn't my zoid, but I know that if Raider were to get tore up that badly, I'd be really sad and he would feel really helpless and useless... I mean, most pilots these days write off wrecks like these as hopeless and they abandon their zoids or sell them as scrap..." He looked at the saix's wreckage and mumbled, "...How must it feel? To fight all one's life only to be thrown away like a worn out toy..." He finished as a quiet, tortured metallic whine issued forth from the saix's ruined body.

Virilia too looked to the fallen saix. Her expression was blank, "...I've never thought about it that way before..." She mumbled slightly ashamed as she looked to her own command wolf. "...I know if I were to be in such a position... I wouldn't want to be thrown away... I'd want another chance to do better..." She mumbled sadly as she looked back at Krater and he met her gaze.

"That's why I want to fix the lightning saix, Virilia. I don't want to see him tossed out like garbage... he can be fixed, it may be hard, but the lightning saix will be able to run and fight again. I just need some time..." He placed a hand on her shoulder as he gazed into her eyes, "...Just please be patient. I know you don't like Renia, but right now she really needs our help and the lightning saix needs my help."

Virilia smiled wide and nodded, "Alright, I'll help." She replied as she stood up and wiped her bottom off, "I'll go check on Renia again. You should finish up for today so you can get ready for bed. You can continue your work tomorrow." She added as she held out a hand.

Krater smiled and took the offer, pulling him up and watching as his beautiful companion turned and waltzed off towards the front door, following each movement of her slender legs with a smile. When she was out of sight, he turned and went behind the house and grabbed some small crates and one big crate and carried them around to the front. He took the pile of scraps and stuck them all into the bigger crate, took a can of black spray-paint and sprayed the word 'Scrap' along the front and back. He then put each pile of salvageable parts in their own boxes and labeled them accordingly before he carried them back around to a fairly small shed and set them inside. The box of scraps, however, was stored inside the gustav since it was too big to fit in the car. Once he was done with that, he headed inside.

Renia was sound asleep on the couch just as Virilia said. He could hear the red eyed beauty upstairs. He kicked off his boots and quietly moved into the dining room and up the stairs to the second floor. As he did, the bathroom popped open and Virilia stepped out with a towel wrapped around her. When he saw her he stopped in his tracks and his cheeks turned a scarlet red.

Virilia blushed as well, casting her gaze off to the side, "...After today I was hot and sweaty so I thought I'd take a shower before heading off to bed..." She mumbled with noticeable embarrassment. The only thing that kept her from fiddling with her fingernails was the fact that, if she did, the towel would fall.

"Uh...right..." Replied Krater as he ascended the rest of the stairs and came up beside her, "I guess I should do the same..." He added as he scratched the back of his head and tried to maintain eye-contact with her. It was increasingly difficult to do knowing she was standing there wearing only a towel.

Virilia nodded with a smile and stuck her tongue out at him, "...You do kind of smell. I think that would be for the best." She teased as she turned to head down the hall until he placed a hand on her bare shoulder and she looked back at him blushing.

"Look...I'm sorry that you have to put up with all of this. I know you probably didn't know this kind of stuff would happen when you asked me to join you... so if it gets to be too much, just tell me. If there's something I can do to help, I'll do it..." He suddenly mumbled quietly as he gazed into her red eyes.

The silver maned beauty turned and watched him for a little while, contemplating what he said before she smiled and walked up to him. "You're a nice guy, Krater. I see that. You're just the type that can't resist helping people when they need it. I'm actually glad you're here..." She looked down and readjusted the towel so it would stay up without her help, "...You've helped me see things in ways I've never thought of before. I mean... for all I know about zoid battles and strategy, these past few days we've been together has taught me to look at things from a different perspective... So I'd like to say thanks."

She took a few steps closer and stood on the balls of her feet to give Krater a peck on the cheek. Virilia smiled and turned back around, "Well... I'll see you in the morning Krater..." She spoke softly, as she walked down the hallway and went into her room.

When she was gone, Krater smiled, grabbed a towel from the closet and went into the bathroom to shower up. When he was done he went to his bedroom and just pulled on some boxers and went to bed. That night his dreams were filled with two things: Virilia and all the things he needed to do to fix the lightning saix.

The next morning, he woke up early and got dressed and was headed on his way downstairs when Virilia emerged from her bedroom in the same state she always would at that hour. Apparently without even thinking about it, the gorgeous young woman walked up to him, rubbing one eye and pecked him gently on the cheek before she stumbled towards the bathroom, "Mm... good morning..." She mumbled over her shoulder before she disappeared.

Krater blinked a few times but smiled and headed downstairs. He looked and saw that Renia was still asleep, so he quietly made his way to the kitchen and started preparing breakfast. He prepared a spread much like the one Virilia always fixed, having picked up on the recipes. Before long, the alluring smell of delicious food permeated the first floor and was working its way up to the second when Renia walked in. She looked well rested, but she was still pretty beat up, causing a pang of guilt to once again rise up in Krater.

She looked at the delicious meal he was preparing and grinned, "Wow... who would have thought?" She mumbled as she sat down in the dining room with a yawn. The black haired young man chuckled at the comment and finished preparing breakfast. Once it was ready, he set it all out on the table at about the same time Virilia came downstairs dressed in a navy blue long-sleeved shirt that hugged her body, a short white skirt and white stockings and sniffed at the air with a pleasant hum. When she saw Krater she smiled another of her wonderful smiles and sat down as he set her favorite morning beverage in front of her and asked for what Renia wanted.

The redhead blinked at him, grinned and said, "Milk please." Once he got that, the three of them started eating eagerly. It was quiet at first, but Renia soon broke the silence when she looked at Krater and asked, "...So, how long do you think it will take to fix my lightning saix?"

Krater hummed thoughtfully as he chewed his eggs with deliberate slowness before swallowing and answering, "A few days at least. The hardest part is going to be fixing all of the interior damage. Once that's done, it shouldn't take long to fix the exterior damage."

"Why not just take it to the zoid shop in town?" Suggested the redhead a little curiously.

"Because they'd just write it off as hopeless. I've seen it before." He replied instantly and took a chunk of ham and ate it. Renia hummed and smiled as she ate, watching Krater and Virilia as the two started chatting away about today's activities.

"So you're going to go sell the scrap first? That's probably a good idea. Feel free to pull what you need from our funds if you need to." Virilia was smiling while she talked, which caught Renia off guard. Hadn't she been opposed to the idea last night?

Krater nodded, "Yeah. It would be best. That way we can cut costs where we can. Who knows, maybe I can find a few good deals at the junkyard." He replied as he looked to Renia, "...Um, that is if you don't mind Renia. It's just that, some of the parts for the lightning saix are really expensive..." He added with a more submissive tone.

The redhead simply watched him for some time with that coy smile and it was starting to make Krater uncomfortable. Finally she nodded with a giggle, "Yes, it's fine. Once he's up and running again, I can get new parts later." She answered cheerfully then returned to her meal.

When they finished eating breakfast, Krater slipped on his boots and rushed out the door and hopped into his gustav while Virilia led Renia upstairs to get her something else to wear aside from her worn clothes. Luckily, the two of them were roughly the same proportions, although Renia was a little more developed, so they eventually had to settle for a shirt like the one Virilia was wearing that looked a little tight on Renia, a skirt and a pair of stockings.

"My, you don't have a whole lot of variety..." Mumbled Renia in wonder as she inspected herself in the mirror, turning and bending this way and that. Virilia frowned but refrained from saying anything harsh and instead chose to say, "I try to be a little more practical. If I don't think I'm going to wear it more then once I don't buy it."

Renia giggled and folded her arms together beneath her chest, "I guess that's a good idea. But really..." She glanced down at her chest with a coy grin, "Must they be so exaggerated? No wonder Mr. Mercenary can never seem to take his eyes off you when you wear clothes like this all the time. Why I'm surprised he can concentrate in matches with that outfit you wear." She added as she looked back at the silver haired girl beside her.

Virilia blushed lightly and gave no answer to her question and instead shifted to say, "If you need to, we can use the car to go get you some clothes... or do you have more somewhere?"

Renia's grin grew wider at the dodge, "I've been staying at the local hotel, that's where my other clothes are right now." The two of them walked out of Virilia's room and headed downstairs, "...So tell me, what do you think of him? What's your opinion of Krater Vrasik?" Asked the redhead with an interested smile.

The silver haired girl maintained her composure as they walked out of the house and got into the car, Krater and the gustav long gone along with the scrap. "...He's good for a rookie. His mechanical skills are amazing and he's learning fast when it comes to combat. I thin-" She was cut off when Renia pressed a finger to her lips.

"Ah, ah, ah! I mean, what do you think of him as a man? Not as a zoid pilot, but as a man." She corrected her with a wink.

Virilia blushed and she fell silent, pondering how she should best answer that question. Soon they were already in town and on their way to the hotel Renia mentioned. "...He's cute, kind- to a fault sometimes, dependable, talented, patient... I've only known him for about a week now and I already feel I could trust him with my life... although he is kind of a pervert..." She finally spoke, her gaze fixed on the road.

Renia giggled, "Oh without a doubt! He melts like butter when I get going." The girl driving gave a brief glare, but soon had to return her attention to the road. "So... are you interested?" She suddenly added and Virilia's face turned red again.

"..." She mumbled so quietly the female mercenary couldn't hear her.

"What?" She pressed the question with a Cheshire grin.

"...A little." Virilia repeated a little louder, but still very softly.

Renia nodded with a satisfied smile, "I thought so. Have you told him?"

"No... Because I don't think he's interested." Renia scoffed and waved a dismissive hand. "Oh please! The way he looks at you? I highly doubt he'd say no to you... or me for that matter" She stated as they pulled into the hotel parking lot.

Virilia didn't say much else; she just waited as Renia went inside to get her things saying, "After I get my clothes, let's go do some shopping" with a smile. Virilia thought about what she said and she did have a point; the possibility of Krater turning her down was next to zero. But what did she mean by that last part? She frowned and folded her arms together as she thought about it...

Meanwhile, Krater had already visited the junkyard and gotten a pretty decent sum of cash for the scrap he gave them and found a few needed parts in fairly good condition for a bargain price. After that, he headed for the parts shop, a list of needed equipment in hand and found it would cost more then he thought it would. Still, they had more then enough thanks to the money they got from their battle yesterday so it wasn't too big of a deal.

By the time he got back to the house, it was about lunch time and the girls had taken the car into town from the looks of things. So, he got to work next fixing the damaged parts he'd saved and worked for three hours getting them all in working order again. By three-thirty in the afternoon, he'd fixed all the parts that could be fixed and started the time consuming task of putting them where they belonged. He had to start first by putting the parts themselves in first and then attaching the command connections, run them through the body to the cockpit and connected them to the appropriate control panels.

The girls didn't get back until later at about seven o'clock when the sun was close to setting. When they did, Virilia dragged him back inside despite his desire to continue his work. In the end, he relented and took a shower while Virilia started fixing dinner and Renia put her new clothes into her bag and changed into something more comfortable in the form of a loose long sleeved red shirt, a pair of striped green and white pajama pants and socks. Krater soon returned in an equally casual outfit though he was wearing actual pants still and went to help make dinner.

When it was ready, the three of them sat at the table and talked about what they did all day while they ate. Krater gave a brief report on his progress and told Renia he'd fixed all the parts that could be fixed and was now working on putting it all back together. When he finished talking, Renia grinned coyly and leaned over to peck him on the cheek and whispered, "Thanks, Mr. Mercenary. I really owe you."

The young man blushed and Virilia frowned at the redhead as she got back to her meal. Shortly thereafter, the mood lightened a little and the three of them were laughing and talking as the girls described their trip to the store. Of course, when Renia started going into detail about their trip to the lingerie section Krater turned a scarlet red trying not to picture it in his mind while Renia giggled and Virilia frowned.

After dinner was done, the three of them lounged in the living room and watched TV for a while. Krater was sitting on the end of the couch with Virilia beside him while Renia lay out across the love seat. They first watched the ZBN channel to get some of the latest news on the zoid battle circuit and some of its more popular teams. Here they learned the Blitz Team had won another battle, not that they were surprised of course. They also found that people were all talking about this new 'Alpha Team' and its two members. Virilia and Krater grinned at each other and laughed.

Later that night, the three of them were getting ready for bed. Krater had decided by then that he would let Renia use his room and he'd just sleep on the couch. Virilia wasn't so happy with the suggestion, but she eventually yielded on the matter and the redhead was setup in that room.

Virilia was in her bedroom getting changed for bed while Renia stood in her new room and Krater brought up her bag for her. When he was in the room, the redhead gently shut the door behind him and walked up to him when he turned to wish her a good night and pressed herself against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. The young man turned a scarlet red and met her half-lidded gaze with his own wide open.

"I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your help. Say all you want, but if you hadn't been here I'd probably still be stranded out there in the wastelands and my lightning saix would be doomed." She purred quietly and pressed her lips against his. Krater tensed up when she did that, but he didn't try to stop her. When she broke the kiss, she met his gaze again and added, "I owe you my career as a zoid pilot... and I owe you my life." She tried to kiss him again but he held her back this time, a grim look on his face.

"...If I hadn't been here your lightning saix wouldn't be a wreck and you'd still be alright." He spoke quietly, his gaze never leaving hers.

Renia smiled and pressed their foreheads together, "Well, Krater Vrasik, there's also the fact that you didn't have to help me at all. You didn't have to help me out when I crashed, you didn't have to carry me and my zoid all the way here or treat my wounds, you didn't have to offer to fix my lightning saix... Say what you will about it, but the fact of the matter is, you didn't have to do a single thing to help me, but you did it anyway. Because of that, I should say thank you and give you something in return. Just ask..." She pecked him on the lips again, her breathe getting hot, "...anything at all..." She reached down and placed a hand on his beltline, "...and I'll do it." She finished as she bore into his eyes.

There was a long pause and neither said a thing for some time. Krater started to relax and he sighed as he gently freed himself from Renia's hold.

"Renia, I'm helping because I want to. Not because I'm expecting any sort of reward or... service." He whispered quietly as he watched her. After a couple seconds he added, "...Besides you're still injured..."

Renia smiled and shrugged, "Well, if you ever want to, I'm always open." Then she took a step back and gave him an inquiring eye, "...You know, you're the kind of guy I've been looking for. Maybe you and I should go and hang out sometime... just the two of us..." She suggested as she watched him.

His expression offered no real answer until he sighed with a slight smile, "Sure I guess. Maybe after I fix your lightning saix we cou-"

"I'm not saying we have to wait until then, why not go sometime tomorrow? We could go have dinner somewhere..." She cut him off, knowing what he might say.

He considered it for a minute before he nodded, "Alright. I'll tell Virilia in the morning and then I'll get started working on the lightning saix." He replied with a smile.

Renia grinned from ear to ear and walked up to him and gave him a kiss, "Then see you in the morning. Good night, Mr. Mercenary..." She whispered and backed off so he could leave the room and head downstairs.

Once he was gone, she grinned to herself like the Cheshire cat and did a spin on one foot, "Well this should be fun! Krater's an interesting guy... I actually can't wait until tomorrow..." She mumbled to herself contently. "Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and I'll get to see how good he is in bed." She added with a giggle.

Meanwhile, Krater descended the stairs and went into the living room and laid down on the couch with a sigh. He stared up at the ceiling as he lay in thought. _...Why exactly did I agree to go on a date with Renia? I mean she's beautiful and all... but I don't know... I wonder... what will Virilia think? I hope she doesn't get mad... I mean... it is just one date. _He shifted so he was facing the back of the couch and closed his eyes to go to sleep...

--

I was growing a little concerned after I got into some of the later chapters. I actually ended up editing this chapter quite a bit before I was satisfied with it. Anyway, R&R!


	7. Chapter 6 A Date with Disaster

Alright, here's chapter 6. It was kind of entertaining writing this chapter, but like the last, it underwent heavy editing because there were parts I just wasn't all that happy with. Anyway...

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zoids or any of its official characters. Only Krater, Virilia, Renia, Jrouler and the mystery man belong to me.

**Chapter 6: A Date with Disaster**

The next day flowed quickly. The trio of pilots woke up early, Virilia made breakfast and they happily started eating it. Krater was a little nervous; he did need to tell Virilia about his date with Renia. _How do I bring it up? Should I do it right now, or wait until after breakfast?_ He asked himself as he listened to the two girls talk. Listening to them, he found out that, while he was fixing the lightning saix, Renia would be taking a nap while Virilia's medicine does its work on her headache and Virilia would do some cleanup work around the house. After lunch time, Virilia would take Renia with her into town so she would have something to do, and go to the zoid parts shop to see about upgrading Navilia by adding a powerful Single Barrel Long-Range Beam Cannon to help add some power to help ease the strain on her AZ 50mm Double Barreled Rifle. It would lower Navilia's speed a little bit, but with the proper adjustments that wouldn't matter.

After that, they would come back and start making dinner. _I guess it has to be right now..._ Thought Krater as Renia gave him a quick curious glance. So, he cleared his throat and got Virilia's attention. She looked at him a little startled, considering he'd been so quiet for a while. He looked at her with a smile, "Actually Virilia, me and Renia are going out for dinner tonight." He said pleasantly.

The silver haired girl stared blankly at him before she cast her gaze on her plate, "Oh... Okay then... I guess I'll take of things here myself until you get back." She finally spoke again and though she tried to hide it, he could tell right away that she wasn't entirely happy about that. She gave him a smile, but there wasn't any of the radiance he usually saw in her perfect smiles, it was very obviously forced.

If Renia noticed, she gave no indication that she did. She continued eating with a smile on her face. After an awkward silence, Virilia asked, "So where are you going to eat?" Her tone was cheerful enough to the point that he couldn't tell if she faking it or not, but he wasn't convinced. He looked at Renia and smiled uneasily, "I'm not too sure about that. Where did you want to go Renia?" He asked as he scratched the back of his head.

The redhead hummed thoughtfully as she ate before she replied, "Why don't we go to that nice restaurant down the road? What's it called...?"

Virilia perked up with surprise, "You mean the new one? The Grape Vine? Isn't that kind of expensive?" She spoke with some confusion.

Renia nodded with a smile, "Yeah, it's not one you go to too often, but it's a nice place. I went there once shortly after it opened." She then looked at Krater and winked, "And don't worry. Since you're working so hard trying to fix my lightning saix, it's on me."

Krater blinked and replied, "Well okay then... We don't have to wear anything too formal do we?" He was obviously a little uncomfortable with the idea of having to dress nice.

Renia laughed and said, "Oh no, no, no. Nothing too fancy, the Manager just doesn't want people coming in wearing rags or beach clothes or things like that. Just casual dress." She smiled as he pondered what she meant by that.

"In other words, you can just wear that blazer I got you with one of your plain white shirts and a pair of pants." Virilia stated plainly before taking a bite out of her eggs.

Krater nodded and turned his attention back to Renia, "So when do you want to go?" The redhead grinned and replied, "I think 7 o'clock will do fine."

"Okay then." Replied the black haired young man with a smile.

After that, little else was said and the three of them finished eating breakfast. Once they cleared the table and rinsed off and put the dishes in the dishwasher, Renia went into the living room to get ready for her nap. Krater was about to head outside to start working when Virilia grabbed him by the arm and said, "Come with me for a second..." He glanced at her and saw her pleading face, so he acquiesced and followed her back into the kitchen and, surprisingly, into the pantry where she closed the door behind him.

"Okay, Krater, I have to ask. Why exactly are you going on a date with Renia?" Virilia asked rather bluntly with a slight frown, her arms folded in a sulking stance.

He considered what to say carefully, he didn't want to upset Virilia any further then he apparently already had. "Well, she asked and there's really no reason why I should say no." He finally said calmly as he scratched the back of his head.

The silver haired girl's frown deepened a little at the last part. She remained silent watching him for awhile before she asked, "...Are you doing it because you still feel guilty about injuring her or is it because you actually find her attractive?"

Krater blinked, his mouth agape as he considered the question. Virilia was being very blunt all of a sudden, but then he probably shouldn't have been surprised given how she greeted him for the first time. "Well, I'd be lying if I said she wasn't beautiful... though that's not really the main reason. But I can say no, I'm not doing it because I feel guilty." He answered evenly as he met her gaze.

Virilia narrowed her eyes and suddenly he felt as if her gaze was boring into him, like the first time he laid eyes on her. "You're sure?" She inquired with a quirked eyebrow.

The young mercenary nodded with a smile, "I'm doing it because I think I should at least give her a chance. We didn't exactly have the best first impression of her and she hasn't been acting as..." He trailed off, struggling to find a word that didn't sound insulting to describe his current impression of her nature.

"Vulgar?" Virilia suggested with a frown.

Krater shook his head, "...I wouldn't put it that way, but I guess yeah..."

"That's just because she knows if she acts like that here I can kick her out. If you two are alone together in some place that I'm not at, she'll be all over you." The silver haired girl retorted with a hostile tone.

Krater met her gaze again and frowned sadly. Virilia had that angry look again, the one he didn't think should be on such a face; it marred her beauty. Her body language of course, was far less restrained then her facial expression, she looked ready to pounce on him.

He sighed and placed his hands on her shoulders, "Look, Virilia... I'm sorry if I upset you... but like I said, I want to give Renia a chance." He spoke calmly in an attempt to console her.

Virilia's expression changed, softening up to a defeated expression, "Alright... I won't say anything else. I guess I'll just have to see how things play out..." She sighed and smiled to Krater, "Now I think you have some work to do."

Krater nodded and opened the pantry door and started to walk out, but hesitated with a glance over his shoulder. Virilia knew what he was about to ask and said, "I know, I won't bug Renia, I promise." She clasped her hands together behind her back and though the young mercenary noticed her body language was suggesting a different vibe.

In the end, Krater left the pantry and went to get started on repairing the lightning saix. Virilia, standing alone in the pantry frowned and wiped her eyes with a sigh, "That idiot... how could he not notice?" She mumbled under her breathe with a sniffle. She stood their silently sulking for several minutes before she got her act back together and went to give Renia her medicine and then started cleaning up around the house.

The rest of the day proceeded just as they had discussed. Krater spent the greater part of the day working on the lightning saix, pausing only for lunch and walked in with several of his fingers wrapped in bandages. That lunch had been particularly quiet, since Virilia wasn't too talkative, so after Krater talked about his progress and how he had jammed his fingers between two parts, little else was said. After that, he resumed his work and the two girls took the car into town and headed towards the zoid parts shop. From the look on her face, Renia could tell the silver haired girl intended not to say a thing about why she was so upset, at least not to her.

So, Renia faced forward and stated almost absently, "I can tell you're upset. Your face is practically an open book to me." Virilia didn't look at her, mainly since she was driving, but also because she didn't want to prove she was right. "If you have something you want to say to me, just say it."

Virilia gave no reply for some time. However, she eventually relented and said, "I can't believe you would go and do something like that... especially after the last time we talked..." Her voice had a barbed tone to it, one that simply did not belong.

Renia sighed and folded her arms behind her head and closed her eyes, "Well, you two aren't dating and you're certainly not lovers yet so he's free game. Think of this as an example so you don't make the mistake of hesitating again." She retorted nonchalantly. Virilia glared at her from the corner of her eye. "And don't worry; I don't plan on taking him away from you. I hate lengthy relationships."

The relief that Virilia felt upon hearing that was so obvious that Renia quirked an eyebrow. "What, you seriously thought I was gonna fall for him? Look he's cute and a nice guy, but he's just not my type." She grinned with a teasing tone. The girl driving blushed in embarrassment and frowned.

Nothing else could be said, they had arrived at the shop. Renia stayed with the car while Virilia went inside and asked about the cannon. The redhead watched her walk inside and smiled when she was inside. "I don't plan to have him for long, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun while I do..." She mumbled to herself humorously as she drummed her fingernails on the armrest of the door and rested her chin in her other hand.

Later that day, Krater paused to see it was six o'clock and cleaned up outside, then headed in to take a shower, taking his change of clothes with him. He had gotten very dirty working on the lightning saix so he took longer then usual cleaning up. When he was done, he pulled on a simple white t-shirt, a pair of darker red pants and a simple blazer the same color as Raider's armor. When he left the bathroom and walked downstairs he was surprised to find that his boots were squeaky clean and resting beside the door.

"I saw they were dirty and thought I'd clean them up for you." Virilia's voice came from the couch and drew his attention to her. She was wearing a pair of pajama pants, the one with the little pteras on it and the blue shirt that hugged her body and she had a plate in her lap with her dinner on it and a glass of tea on the coffee table.

Krater smiled and nodded, "Thanks. I guess it wouldn't do to walk in a restaurant with my boots all dirty, would it?" He tried to be light-hearted about the matter and it seemed to work as the girl smiled back at him.

"Well, have fun on your date. I'll probably be asleep before you get back." Virilia stated nonchalantly, a tone he didn't often hear come out of her mouth.

He was going to say something else when Renia emerged from the dining room with an excited shout, drawing all attention to her. Krater blushed slightly at the site of her outfit, which consisted of a strapless dress that he couldn't tell if it was made from red silk or satin with black and yellow embroidery on the bottom hem, a skirt much like what you would see on a china dress with slits on both sides and red gloves that ended just past the elbows, black thigh highs and shin high stylish red boots that greatly contrasted the overall style of the dress itself, though Renia obviously didn't care.

Virilia coughed and said something under her breath; Krater imagined it being something along the lines of 'slut'. The redhead walked up to Krater and placed her hands on his chest with an interested hum and straightened out some of his outfit, "Not bad Krater. You clean up pretty nicely."

The young man smiled at the compliment as the two turned and headed out the door with a farewell to Virilia and, once they were out the door, he said, "You look very beautiful, Renia." With a pleasant tone as he tried to keep his eyes from wandering and Renia grinned. Keeping himself composed was a difficult task with that dress she was wearing, especially with the way she was walking, like she was teasing him.

Krater walked over to the car and was about to get into the driver's seat when Renia placed a hand on his shoulder, "Nuh-uh, Mr. Mercenary, we're riding in Raider." She stated with a wink and a coy grin.

The black haired youth quirked an eyebrow and asked, "Why? It'd be easier to drive there."

"Because I have something else I'd like to do after we go to dinner... and a car isn't the best thing to do it in." She answered as she walked over to his rev raptor, her hips swaying leadingly.

He relented with a sigh and walked over to Raider, clambering up into the cockpit and waiting for Renia to follow suit when he noticed with a fierce blush that climbing up a zoid was not the best thing to do in that dress. He forced himself to look away and waited. Soon enough, the redhead reached the cockpit and planted herself in Krater's lap with a sigh. However, the second she did, she started slightly with a blush of her own and smiled coyly, "My, my, Krater..." She glanced over her shoulder at him and stuck her tongue out at him with a wink, "Might want to control yourself, we've only just started." She teased as she rested her back against his chest and he grabbed the controls.

_That would be easier to do if you weren't sitting in my lap in a dress like that..._ He thought to himself with an uneasy smile.

Riding in Raider, the trip to the restaurant proved to be a short one, much to Krater's relief and he parked him in the back of the parking lot. He popped open the cockpit and waited for Renia to climb out first. When she did, though, she rubbed herself against Krater and hoisted herself up and out, the wind kicking up the back of her skirt and giving the pilot a full view of what kind of panties she was wearing.

He stayed there a few moments, trying to compose himself, before Renia called for him. Raider's eyes flashed again and a message showed up on the screen. Krater sighed and said, "I'll be fine... I think..." He replied and climbed out, joining his date on the ground and the two walked arm in arm into the restaurant.

Now that he was here, Krater was surprised. He was expecting something overly grand and luxurious, but it wasn't too bad. Once they were inside, he found everything was spotless and arranged neatly throughout the restaurant. The room where guests ate was a huge square where the corners were all raised a little higher and the floor everywhere except at the center was covered by a darker red carpet with tables and chairs located in neat rows and columns in the four corners of the room. Inbetween each corner section was a ramp and small staircase that led to the middle. There in the middle of the restaurant was a single, huge chandelier dangling over what he presumed was a dance floor and orchestral and classical music was playing from the speakers positioned around the restaurant.

A waiter came and greeted them and Renia said, "My reservation should be there, Renia Krider." Once that was checked out, she and Krater were led further into the restaurant and the two of them were seated in a booth in a more withdrawn corner of the restaurant. Krater was going to sit across from her, but ended up sitting beside her at her insistence.

After the waiter had taken their orders and walked away, Renia turned and looked at him with a smile as she wrapped her arms around his left arm, "So, what do you think?" She asked curiously.

He blinked as he cast his gaze around until it fell back on the redhead beside him, "It's pretty nice... but it doesn't seem overdone, thankfully." He replied with a smile. Renia nodded and cheerfully said, "Yeah, that's why I like it. It's a little expensive, but it's a good place to come to every once and a while."

About then, the waiter returned with their drinks, some appetizers and walked away again. Renia had ordered a bottle of wine, but Krater wasn't one for alcohol so he had just ordered some soda. She poured herself a glass and took a sip with a pleasant hum and set the glass down again with a smile. "Ah, I love the taste of wine. I don't drink it often, but I like to have a bottle every once and a while." She said as she looked at Krater. "What about you? Do you not like wine?" She added curiously with an interested gaze.

Krater shook his head, "I just don't like alcohol. Wine would be fine if there weren't any alcohol in it, I just don't like what the stuff does to you." He replied evenly with flat line lips.

"Bad experience?" Renia suggested as she leaned over closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder.

Krater didn't say anything, but he did nod. The redhead didn't want to make him angry, so she asked him something else.

"So tell me, Krater, what made you decide to start piloting zoids? I've been wanting to ask that since I heard about you." Renia asked casually as she looked up at him.

The young man smiled and replied, "Well, before I decided to become a zoid pilot, I worked with my dad fixing zoids. I grew up around zoids so they were always a part of my life. It wasn't until I was around the age of fourteen that I really became interested in trying to pilot them. My dad and I would work on a zoid for someone and dad would tell me stories about some of the zoid pilots he'd seen or heard about. That day he started telling me about two zoid pilots that really caught my interest: they went by the names of Tierra the Mistress of Sabres and Lance the Blade Master. They were two zoid pilots that worked together for years and had won a number of contests, including the Royal Cup Championship. Tierra piloted a crimson Sabre Fang she called Redia and Lance had a Blade Liger he called Pstriker. I loved hearing about them for some reason, more then any of the other pilots he told me about; they were my favorites."

Krater smiled fondly as he looked at the opposite wall, "...A few weeks after he started telling me about them, a customer I vaguely recognized came into the shop and called my dad by the name of 'Lance' and talked about how it had been so long since he last saw him. It turns out Lance was the alias my dad went by as a zoid pilot and Tierra was my mom's pilot name. He never told me why they decided to go by different names, I had always assumed because they thought those names sounded cooler. But yeah... it turns out my mom and dad were the zoid pilots he'd been telling me about. The guy that came into the shop was a friend of theirs they'd worked with, he was in some of dad's stories and his name is Yollan and he piloted a Heldigunner."

The young mercenary took a sip of his soda and continued, "After that, I was determined to become a zoid pilot myself. I wanted to see if I could become like my mom and dad and be a great zoid pilot. I worked in the shops with my dad for a while longer and he and mom got me my first zoid: a rev raptor I decided to name Raider."

"They had found him in the junkyard in pretty rough condition, but his zoid core wasn't damaged and they decided to try and fix him. When they brought him in, he wasn't too happy with us. I think it's because his last pilot wasn't the most appreciative and might have abused him a lot, but after we all got to work on him he calmed down. When we finished fixing him, mom and dad allowed me to try and get into his cockpit."

He laughed and shook his head, "I was so nervous. I'd been in a zoid cockpit dozens of times before, but never with the intention of actually trying to pilot one. I think I was also worried because I thought Raider might go berserk, but he didn't. He must have sensed how anxious I was, because he closed the cockpit for me. I jumped and was ready to freak out, but the controls activated and my dad ran me through all the procedures needed to start a zoid and get it up and running for action."

"After that, every day my dad would take me and Raider out into the fields outside of my hometown and practice piloting him. It was rough at first, I had a hard time remembering where all the controls were and what did what, but Raider was patient with me and by the time I was seventeen I could handle him just fine. Of course, I'd never been in battle before, so I had never used the combat systems."

"For my eighteenth birthday, my mom and dad took me to register me as an official zoid pilot so I could compete and they got me new parts for Raider. Mom also gave me some clothes that she thought would suit me for my battle outfit and my dad starting teaching me how to handle some of the combat systems on Raider. When I turned nineteen, I left home and started my career as a mercenary under the name Krater Vrasik." When he was finished, he took another sip of his soda and their food arrived.

By now, the wine was starting to go right to Renia's cheeks, which were scarlet red now. She smiled and started cutting into her dinner, "That's quite a story. So Krater Vrasik isn't your real name?" She asked curiously.

Krater smiled, "Vrasik is my last name, but Krater's not my first name. It's actually my middle name." He replied before taking a bite of his dinner and swallowing.

Renia hummed curiously, "So what's your first name?" She was curious now, she wanted to know.

However, the black haired young man only grinned and replied, "That's a secret." With a whispered tease. The redhead giggled and took another sip of her wine.

Krater noticed with a slight bit of nervousness that she was starting to feel the alcohol. She wasn't swaying in her seat or hiccupping, thankfully, but he saw it in slight symptoms. She was cutting up her dinner with barely noticeable sluggishness with the occasional slipup. Her breath was getting hot and he could smell the flavor of the wine whenever she sighed in his direction and her eyes were half-lidded almost all the time now.

He smiled uneasily and said, "Looks like you should start taking it easy on the wine."

Renia waved a dismissive hand, "Please, I know how to hold my alcohol. Although I will warn you, by the time I finish this bottle, you're going to have to carry me back home." She retorted with a coy smile, a blush starting to add to her flushed cheeks.

Krater gulped quietly and continued to eat before a question came to mind. He glanced at Renia and asked, "...What about you? Why did you become a zoid pilot?"

The redhead giggled and leaned heavily on him, rubbing her head against his shoulder with a purr, "Because, Mr. Mercenary, I think it's fun. It lets me make a pretty penny while getting to meet lots of interesting people and I have a blast doing it." She replied and finished eating the rest of her dinner. By the time she was done, so was Krater. When the waiter came by next, he asked, "Would you like anything for desert?"

Renia shook her head and looked to Krater, "Did you want anything else?" When he shook his head she asked for the check and rested herself against him, one arm wrapped around his left arm with the other under the table and stroking his knee, a steady purr, like a cat, sounding from her lips. Krater blushed and tried to keep his composure until the waiter came by and left the check on the table.

The redhead reached over and slid it over to herself, relieving Krater since her hand wasn't in such a compromising place anymore, and smiled, "My you didn't eat much Krater. You sure you've had enough?" She asked as she placed the money in the little book along with a tip.

Krater nodded and the waiter came back, took the check and wished them a good night. At that, the young man slid out of the booth and waited for Renia. When she went to stand up, though, she staggered slightly and caught herself on Krater's lean shoulder. "You alright?" He asked a little concerned.

The redhead waved a dismissive hand, "I'll be fine... just don't let me walk on my own." She replied as she wrapped her arms around his left arm and walked with him out of the restaurant.

Once they were outside, Krater took her straight to Raider and had the zoid get down low. Renia was in no condition to try climbing into a cockpit almost eight meters above the ground. He climbed in first and then Renia sat down in his lap, but as soon as she did, she rested her head against his chest and started rubbing herself against him with a purr and Krater found controlling himself becoming increasingly difficult.

He gulped and Raider closed the cockpit and stood up again. He was about to take Renia straight home, when the redhead turned in his lap so she was straddling him and whispered into his ear, "Follow the main road out of town and go the tall hill on the outskirts of town."

He blushed heavily, unsure if he should. Renia purred again and pressed herself that much closer against him and rested her head against the crook of his neck. He sighed and decided to just do it. So he turned Raider around to follow the main road and had him walk until they were out of town. Before long, the aforementioned hill came into view and he had Raider walk all the way to the top. The hill was bigger then he thought it would be and they wound up almost a mile higher then the rest of the wastelands.

Here they were overlooking a vast stretch of the more vegetated wastelands laid out all around. Above, the sun had long since set and the stars were out. When they crested the hill, Renia eased up and had Krater open the cockpit so they could see better. When he did he smiled as he looked up at the starry sky. So this was what she wanted to see? He looked down at Renia again and found her staring up at the sky with a half-lidded gaze and a smile on her face as if she were remembering a fond memory.

The two of them remained on the hill top for some time just watching the night sky when Krater yawned and looked at the clock on Raider's display and saw that it was almost eleven o'clock at night. "Looks like we should be getting home..." He whispered to Renia who looked up at him and grinned with that same half-lidded gaze, the wine still making her cheeks red.

She started purring again and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself close to him and pressing her chest against him as she whispered, "Oh but why... it's so nice out here... and we could have a lot of fun right here too..." She put on a pout and drew her face closer and closer to his.

Krater gulped at this and the heat in his face sky rocketed when he suddenly felt her rubbing herself up against his body, including a very sensitive area.

"Play with me..." She whispered seductively and suddenly kissed him. Krater hesitated, but he finally decided to give in and returned it, wrapping his arms around her. He could feel her purring pleasantly as he pulled her closer to him and led her into a deeper kiss, his tongue running across her lips. She smiled and opened her mouth allowing him access and he slid his tongue into her mouth, capturing her tongue and wrestling with it, savoring the taste of her mouth mixed with the flavor of the wine.

He could feel things heating up as he moved a hand back around to the front and started moving up towards her chest, slowly rubbing his way up her torso, causing her to gasp and moan at the feeling. He broke their kiss and started pecking a trail down her neck. His hand was about to reach its destination when they were suddenly interrupted.

The ground close to Raider's feet suddenly erupted in an explosion of dirt and dust.

Krater started, Renia released an uncharacteristic shriek at the sudden sound and the two braced themselves as the young pilots looked to see a group of zoids approaching from the western side of the hill. Krater's eyes went wide, because on their way up the hill...

Were a gray shield liger, a black command wolf and a posse consisting of a red horn and two guysaks.

"Sorry to interrupt your starlight romance, kiddies, but you picked a bad place to start getting hot and heavy." The voice was that of a man, maybe in his twenties and it came from the liger.

Krater shut the cockpit and the man's face appeared on his main screen. He was maybe twenty, just as his voice said, with short black spiky hair and some sort of uniform with a high collar jacket and a strange emblem on his chest. It looked like a diamond with a capital 'J' over top.

"You're that kid we ran into a few days ago, aren't you?" He stated it more then asked it, but Krater thought he should at least answer.

"...Yeah... can I help you?" He replied on edge as he grabbed the controls and turned Raider to face the oncoming zoids with a frown. Renia was obviously confused by what was going on and the wine wasn't helping. "Krater, what's going on?" She whispered with a frown and a slightly worried expression.

"Thought so. I didn't believe Jrouler when he said he saw your zoid up here, I thought you'd have been smart enough not to do that so soon." The man laughed and smirked, "I guess that eliminates the possibility of you being an agent of the ZBC. You haven't even told anyone, have you? If so that's good for us."

"I ran into these guys a couple days ago when me and Raider were out for a midnight run. They had a huge camp out in the wastelands at the base of a cliff, I don't know what for, but I had to make a run for it when they spotted me. I ended up damaging that command wolf over there when he tried to stop me." He whispered to Renia so he wouldn't be heard by the man and then turned his attention to him. "No I don't work for the ZBC, I'm just a Mercenary Zoid Pilot, and I'm still fairly new to the Zoid Battle Circuit." He answered him calmly and seriously, his brow furrowed.

The man quirked an eyebrow in interest, "Oh, so you're the new rookie everyone's talking about? That makes this very interesting..." He grinned in a way that made Krater nervous, "My boss has been wanting to meet you. He thinks you have potential and after seeing your matches, I'd say I agree."

The command wolf's head suddenly whipped around to look at the shield liger and Krater heard a familiar voice shout, "Are you kidding?! What use is a brat like him to us?!" He objected fiercely.

"Whether serious or not, if the boss wants to meet him, he gets to meet him. Besides..." The man laughed, "He beat you, didn't he?"

The command wolf growled and the pilot muttered, "He caught me off guard, that's all..." Over the comm. channels.

Sweat started forming on Krater's forehead, "Look, I don't care who you guys are, I'm not going to meet this boss of yours. It's pretty obvious by now that you guys are doing something illegal, otherwise you wouldn't have to worry about the ZBC... and I want no part of it." He stated aloud seriously.

The shield liger got down low at that and the man smirked, "That's too bad. If you won't come willingly, we'll just drag you back to base with us. Harken the King of Diamonds is very intent on meeting you."

Krater watched warily as the command wolf, red horn and guysaks all got into attack positions. "Well Raider, looks like we're in for a rough ride. Activate all combat systems." Raider roared and his eyes flashed as all weapons activated.

"Jrouler, go. Redeem yourself." Stated the liger's pilot to the command wolf.

"Right." Jrouler replied and sprang into action, rushing up the rest of the hill and circling around Raider as the mechanical raptor turned around to follow his movements. "You're gonna pay for humiliating me like that kid, take this!" He barked and skidded to a stop, firing a round from the beam cannons on his back.

"Move it Raider!" Shouted Krater as he pulled the controls to the right and barely managed to avoid a direct hit, the shot hitting the ground where he'd just been standing. Almost instantly after that, Raider returned fire with his own arm-mounted beam cannons as the command wolf sprang out of the way.

Raider and Jrouler's command wolf fired back and forth for what seemed an eternity inflicting minor damage, dancing all across the top of the hill and eventually ran side by side down the opposite side.

Krater gritted his teeth and never took his eyes off Jrouler as they raced down the hill. When they reached the bottom, Jrouler started to turn and Krater reacted instantly, doing the same thing and both fired at the same time. The first shots collided and erupted in the air between them, the second round didn't. Raider got hit in the shoulder, but Jrouler reacted faster and dodged Raider's fire.

The rev raptor stumbled back a step and Jrouler smirked, "No mercy." At that, he started firing round after round, pummeling Raider with a constant stream of fire. The rev raptor shook and rumbled with each hit and both Krater and Renia were badly shook up in the cockpit, the redhead holding onto him tightly. The pilot growled and shouted, "Raider we gotta move or we're done for!" As he tugged on the controls.

Raider responded immediately and rushed off to the side, still took a few hits midway, but was able to break free of the command wolf's shelling. Jrouler scowled and shouted, "Not so fast!" and gave chase, firing more and more shots, though few of them were even close to connecting.

"Ugh, he got us good..." Krater muttered as Raider struggled to maintain his usual top speed. Jrouler's command wolf was quickly gaining on him, he could see that much. "Raider, let's whip around and attack with your blades!"

Raider skidded to a stop and whipped around, the ground around him exploding under the command wolf's fire, and the mechanized raptor charged towards the oncoming opponent.

Jrouler shot upright in his seat and shouted, "Whoa, what?!" Tugging on the controls he tried to change course, but it was too late. Raider's blades shot out, the two zoids brushed shoulders and kept going.

Naught a second after, the side of Jrouler's command wolf erupted as the huge tear in his zoid brought it to the ground. Raider's blade had almost cut the zoid completely in half.

Jrouler snarled and slammed his fist on a control panel, "You've got to be kidding me! He got me again?!" He roared, infuriated. He then pressed his comm. link and shouted, "Zatch, sir, this kid's better then I thought! He almost cut my zoid in half!"

The one piloting the gray shield liger, known as Zatch, frowned and snapped, "That's because you underestimated your opponent." His tone bit deep and Jrouler flinched.

"S-sorry sir... I won't do it again..." Jrouler muttered, sweating.

"See that you don't." Snapped back Zatch again as he and his escorts reached the bottom of the hill and faced Raider. "It seems you're as good as Harken thought. Still don't want to come with us?" He added towards Krater.

"Of course not! I already told you, I want nothing to do with you guys!" Shouted back Krater with a frown.

Zatch frowned and narrowed his eyes at Krater. His comm. flared to life again and the pilot of the red horn asked, "Sir, should we open fire?" The man seemed to consider it carefully for a while before he snickered and replied, "No. I think that's enough for tonight. Withdraw. Return to camp." He ordered evenly.

The red horn and the guysaks turned and started to walk off while the liger moved to the damaged command wolf and Zatch looked at Krater again, "Think about it Krater. We could use someone with your talents... if you change your mind, come back to this spot and we'll come get you." He offered pleasantly as Jrouler climbed up to join him in the shield liger.

Krater didn't say anything. He only watched as the shield liger turned and paused, "Oh and one more thing... you may want to think about the safety of your beautiful friend Virilia Shradner before refusing us again..." With that said, the liger resumed its course and followed its escorts off into the darkness. When he was sure they were gone, he started back towards town, never once letting his guard down, even as he asked Renia, "...So do you have any idea who those guys were?"

The redhead shook her head, "No... I've never heard of Jrouler, Zatch or this 'Harken' guy." She replied as she held onto him. It was obvious the wine was still affecting her, but that whole mess had helped her sober up a little more. She frowned and added, "...And it was just getting good... why'd they have to interrupt?"

Krater laughed uneasily with a blush. They were soon back in town and on their way towards Virilia's house then. It took longer since Raider was damaged and once they were home it was almost one o'clock. Renia got out of his lap, but let him climb down first, then climbed down herself incase she fell. Krater tried not to stare as she did so, being given an interesting view.

Once she was down, the two of them walked in to find Virilia sound asleep on the couch, the TV still on and playing an uninteresting show. Krater smiled and picked her up, carrying her upstairs with Renia following behind, and laid her in her bedroom and shut the door quietly. When that was done, he turned around and Renia wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again before she drew back with a smile and asked, "...Want to continue where we left off?" Whispering quietly into his ear as her hand came to his beltline.

Krater was quiet for a while. Renia kissed him again and pressed herself against him, purring. Now that they weren't being threatened any more, the wine was kicking in again. At the same time, the things the man Zatch had said to him rang through his mind and he found he didn't want to think about it right now.

He took a hold of Renia's wrist and moved her hand away. She was about to try to convince him again when he suddenly picked her up and carried her into her room; the redhead barely suppressing the urge to yelp. He threw her onto her bed, shut and locked the door and climbed on top of her. The redhead grinned coyly as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "Be gentle, Mr. Mercenary... I'm a fragile thing..." She whispered before he locked lips with her in a heated kiss.

Krater ravaged Renia for the better part of what was left of the night. At this point, he wasn't worried about being quiet and Virilia never woke up. It wasn't until half past three that they finished. When they did, a very satisfied and exhausted Renia gave Krater a kiss goodnight before he went downstairs and laid down on the couch.

As he lay there, he contemplated what happened today for a little while, but he quickly brushed those thoughts aside and went to sleep. It was not an easy sleep, but a restless sleep full of troubling nightmares where Zatch and Jrouler and this mysterious Harken taunted him for the rest of the night...

--

Were you expecting that? If you were, you have recognized my characters' patterns pretty well. R&R please!


	8. Updates: I'm not done yet

**Updates:**

It's been a long time since I last updated this story and some of you are probably under the impression that I've just up and dropped the story. If you are, then you're half-right. I haven't dropped the story, but it's true I haven't worked on it in a while. I've gotten distracted; things have come up, etc, etc.

But I am not done with this story. I intend to finish this story. If I'm ever going to get over this can't-ever-finish-a-story problem of mine, then I've got to start somewhere. However, after looking back at the story there are things that bother me and I cover most of this in the update on my profile, but I'll repeat them here. The character interaction is what's been bugging me the most. I didn't intend for the story to take such an odd left turn when I introduced Renia into the story. I think the main mistake I made was having the three of them living in the same house, even if only temporarily. I also don't think I did a good job keeping Virilia in character... So yeah. I'm going to be rewriting some chapters. I'm not going to change the first, second or third chapters much, if at all, I've no real problem with those. But chapter four, five and six will be getting edited. Heavily.

Expect to see me re-upload said chapters in a few days.

Until then. Jya~

Drake


End file.
